BIG changes are on the way for separating couples under a new Family Law Act that's set to change the way family breakups are dealt with in British Columbia.
The new law recently received royal assent and is expected to come into force over the next year to year and a half.
But many couples aren't waiting to find out what it means to them.
"A lot of family lawyers are getting calls about it," said Nicole Garton-Jones, a lawyer who works on mediating family law cases in West Vancouver.
"I'm getting calls saying 'Am I going to be better under the current legislation or the future legislation?'"
The changes - the first in more than 30 years - aim to make the court process less adversarial and deal with modern-day realities such as common-law and same-sex couples.
Children of separating couples are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries under the new law, said Garton-Jones.
While the old laws said the interests of the children should be "paramount" in decisions concerning them, the new law makes it clear that is to be the only consideration, she said.
The new law also puts an emphasis on encouraging couples to reach out-of-court decisions with mediators and parenting coordinators rather than funnelling all decisions through the courts.
Garton-Jones says that's good news, not only for B.C.'s overburdened court system, but also for separating couples, who often aren't served well by the adversarial nature of the court system, particularly when children are involved.
One of the biggest changes under the new law is that common-law couples who live together for two years will now be treated the same as married couples when it comes to dividing assets after a relationship ends.
Many couples who live together currently assume they are subject to the same rules as married couples in the event they split up. But that's not the case.
Currently common-law spouses have a much more difficult time asserting any rights to "family" property when a couple splits up. Under the new law, common-law and married couples will be treated the same when it comes to division of assets.
One of the other biggest changes is the way property would be split when couples break up. Currently, anything that has been used by the family as a whole during the marriage is divided between spouses when they separate - even if it was paid for by one of the spouses or their extended family.
Under the new rules, however, everything owned by the spouses prior to and after marriage and any inheritances and gifts made specifically to one partner during the marriage will not be considered family assets.
Garton-Jones said if couples have questions or concerns about changes to the law, the best thing they can do is sit down with each other and talk about their expectations. "Hopefully a relationship is based on caring," she said, "and not how you're going to do under one regime or another."
