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? (opens in a new tab)".

If you have family law questions, Ask JES.