What are the key legal issues for separation and divorce?
For separation and divorce, the key legal issues include:
- parenting arrangements,
- child support,
- spousal support, and
- division of family property and debt.
See the Family Law in BC (opens in a new tab) website for information, guides and practical tools to help you deal with a family break up.
People are encouraged to try to resolve their family law issues outside of court through negotiation, mediation, or other forms of dispute resolution. The BC government provides Family Justice Centres (opens in a new tab) throughout the province which provide free help and mediation to address separation/divorce issues.
If the issues can’t be resolved outside of court, people may end up in either the Provincial Court or Supreme Court of British Columbia. See "Is there free help to separate or divorce in BC?".
LegalHelpBC can help you get answers to your family law questions: Ask a Human or Ask AI.
Others found these helpful...
- Family Law in BC (opens in a new tab)
BC’s most comprehensive family law website covers separation, divorce, adoption, protection and more.
- HowToSeparate.ca (opens in a new tab)
Provides help for separating couples on: Working it out, Separating the Finances and Going to Court.
- BC Family Justice Services (opens in a new tab)
The BC government provides a range of information and services to support people with separation, divorce, and other family law issues.
- FamiliesChange.ca (opens in a new tab)
Age-appropriate information for parents, teens and kids on how to deal with family changes due to separation.
- Legal Aid BC (opens in a new tab)
Provides a range of services to support British Columbians get legal advice on family law and other issues.
- Rise Women’s Legal Centre (opens in a new tab)
Provides legal services to women, especially regarding family law and intimate partner violence.
- BC Provincial Court (opens in a new tab)
This court applies BC’s Family Law Act and the Divorce Act to deal with a range of family law issues related to parenting arrangements, support, child protection, etc.
- Supreme Court BC (opens in a new tab)
This JES website provides a series of guidebooks to help people understand and move through family law processes in BC Supreme Court.