Regulations to Family Law Act Published

The orders in council implementing the regulations required by the new Family Law Act were made on 23 November 2012 and published on 26 November 2012.

The regulations will, as of 18 March 2013, the day the Family Law Act comes into force, repeal the regulations under the old Family Relations Act and replace them with the Family Law Act Regulation (PDF) and the Family Law Act Pension Regulation (PDF). A host of regulations to other statutes, from the Contaminated Sites Regulation to the International Business Activity Regulation, are amended to accommodate the Family Law Act by orders in council 798 to 846 (PDF).

The Family Law Act Regulation deals with:

1. the provincial employees able to work as family justice counsellors and the information and documents required for their work;
2. the minimum training standards required for professionals working as mediators, arbitrators and parenting coordinators under the Family Law Act;
3. the adoption and adaptation of the federal Child Support Guidelines for use in British Columbia under the Family Law Act;
4. the continuing work of the Child Support Recalculation Service out of the Kelowna registry of the British Columbia Provincial Court;
5. the forms required for the appointment of standby and testamentary guardians under ss. 55 and 53 of the act; and,
6. fixing $10,000 as the limit of the value of children's property which can be managed by a guardian without court order under s. 178 of the act;

According to the press release from the Ministry of Justice, the training standards required for professionals working as mediators, arbitrators and parenting coordinators consist of:

"At least 14 hours of in-depth training on how to identify and screen for family violence or power imbalances to determine whether, or what type of, dispute resolution process is appropriate. 

"A minimum level of family-related experience and training in their area of practice. 

"A minimum of 10 hours a year, per year, of ongoing training to ensure their skill set remains relevant. 

"Extensive training on the new Family Law Act."

These training standards must be met by 1 January 2014, giving everyone just over a year to get up to speed. Lawyers working as mediators, parenting coordinators and arbitrators will also additionally be governed by the training standards (PDF) required by the Law Society as they may be amended from time to time.

It is not entirely clear what fate will befall non-lawyers who have not taken the training required by the deadline. At a minimum, it seems to me that such people will not be "mediators," "parenting coordinators" and "arbitrators" to whom the court can refer people under the Family Law Act and, in particular, that the awards of people working as arbitrators and the determinations of people working as parenting coordinators will not be "awards" or "determinations" capable of enforcement under the act.

The Ministry of Justice has published a new page on its website explaining the new regulations.

MediateBC Releases Updated Guidelines for Distance Mediation

MediateBC has announced the release of the Distance Family Mediation Project’s second edition of Mediating from a Distance: Suggested Practice Guidelines for Family Mediators (PDF). According to the blog post announcing the release:

"The guidelines are a detailed compilation of the knowledge acquired by our Distance Family Mediation Project on the topic of how to conduct family mediation 'from a distance', using technology. The project – which took place in three phases, beginning in 2007 – explored the feasibility of using information and communication technologies to conduct distance family mediations in British Columbia. The third phase, completed in June 2012, was a pilot providing family mediation services to people in all parts of the province, with a focus on using web conferencing technology. 

"This second edition of Mediating from a Distance updates and expands on the guidelines published previously by our project, and highlights the knowledge gained during the third phase. It provides a new and exciting emphasis on how to mediate using video and web conferencing technology, as well as offering additional suggestions for mediating with other types of technologies." 

MediateBC has done a fantastic job piloting distance mediation, an essential resource in the lesser-populated areas of the province where it can be very difficult to find a qualified mediator.

Family Law Act: Law Society Task Force Releases Practice Requirements, Government Announces No Fall Sitting

Proposed Practice Requirements 

On Friday 7 September 2012, the Law Society's Family Law Task Force released its recommendations (PDF) on the qualifications lawyers should be required to have before being able to practice as family law arbitrators, family law mediators and parenting coordinators as provided under the new Family Law Act. The proposed qualifications are rigourous, and, I suspect, appropriately so.

Family Law Arbitrators

The Task Force recommends that lawyers practicing as family law arbitrators have 10 years of practice or experience as a judge or master, sufficient knowledge and skills to arbitrate family law matters in a competent manner, 40 hours of training in arbitration, 40 hours of training in mediation and 14 hours of training in family violence. Arbitrators should also be required to take at least six hours of continuing professional development per year in dispute resolution skills training and/or theory.

Family Law Mediators

Lawyers practicing as family law arbitrators should have sufficient knowledge and skills to mediate family law matters in a competent manner, 80 hours of training in mediation and 14 hours of training in family violence. Mediators should also be required to take at least six hours of continuing professional development per year in dispute resolution skills training and/or theory.

Parenting Coordinators

Lawyers practicing as family law arbitrators should have 10 years of practice or experience as a judge or master, sufficient knowledge and skills to act as a parenting coordinator in a competent manner, 40 hours of training in parenting coordination, 40 hours of training in arbitration, 80 hours of training in mediation and 14 hours of training in family violence. Parenting coordinators should also be required to take at least six hours of continuing professional development per year in dispute resolution skills training and/or theory.

The recommendations of the Task Force must be approved by the Benchers of the Law Society.

Fall Sitting

The CBC reports House Leader and former Attorney General Mike de Jong as saying that the provincial legislature will not sit this fall. As a result, no amendments to the Family Law Act can be tabled until the spring sitting in 2013; the act is scheduled to come into force on 18 March 2013.

Update: 17 September 2012

According to a newsletter distributed by the Law Society today, the recommendations of the Family Law Task Force were approved by the benchers at their meeting on 7 September 2012. Lawyers currently practicing as mediators, arbitrators and parenting coordinators are advised to look at the grandfathering provisions of the recommendations.

Collaborative Practitioners and Child Interviewers: Two New Groups Launch in May

The new Family Law Act has spurred somewhat of movement toward organization among the family law community. In some cases, like that of the BC Hear the Child Society, existing groups have been prodded into action, and in others, like those of the BC Collaborative Roster Society and the yet-to-be-named family law arbitrators association, new groups are organizing themselves from scratch.

The impetus likely comes from the definition of family dispute resolution processes at s. 1 of the act:

"family dispute resolution" means a process used by parties to a family law dispute to attempt to resolve one or more of the disputed issues outside court, and includes ...

(b) the services of a parenting coordinator under Division 3, 

(c) mediation, arbitration, collaborative family law and other processes ...

The definition is important, because certain other provisions of the act - notably the provisions for the enforcement of parenting time and contact at ss. 61 and 63, and for the making of conduct orders at ss. 222 to 228 - allow the the court to refer parties to family dispute resolution in the middle of a court action.

This month, we've seen the formal launching of the BC Collaborative Roster Society, in Vancouver on 10 May 2012, and the BC Hear the Child Society, in Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria on 10, 14 and 16 May 2012. The BC Hear the Child Society will hold an event in Kelowna on 7 June 2012.

BC Collaborative Roster Society

This group has followed up on the recommendations of the Family Law Working Group in 2005 that a roster be established for collaborative practitioners in order to provide the public with a roster of qualified  practitioners in the collaborative practice model. According to the group's website:

"The BC Collaborative Roster Society provides an opportunity for the public to access information about Collaborative Practice, as well as a province-wide roster of professionals who are trained, experienced, and committed to excellence in Collaborative Practice. 

"The BC Collaborative Roster Society is committed to furthering the growth of high quality Collaborative Practice through continued training and support of collaborative professionals."

The lawyers and mental health professionals on the roster have all met the society's rather exacting membership requirements (PDF).

The group's board of directors is composed of Lisa Alexander, Robert Colby, Bev Churchill, Cally Farr, Karen Henry, Deirdre Severide and Danny Zack, led by president Nancy Cameron, QC. 

BC Hear the Child Society

This group describes itself as "a non-profit organization that aims to give every child the opportunity to share their views and have them heard when their best interests are decided in the family justice system." The group offers a roster of lawyers and mental health professionals who have met the society's membership requirements to prepare non-evaluative reports.

According to the group's website:

"The purpose of a non-evaluative child interview is to listen to the child so that the child can express his or her views in relation to family breakdown or transition, and have them considered in decisions made about their best interests. The Interviewer does not assess the child, his or her best interests, or the parents."

The group's board of directors is composed of John-Paul Boyd, Trudi Brown, QC, Robert Colby, David Dundee, Arlene Henry, QC and Derek Swain, led by president Ron Smith, QC.