Review of Parentage under Part 3 of the Family Law Act

Overview

Conclusively determining who a child’s parents are is an important part of family law. It is the foundation of many aspects of a child’s identity, such as family name and relationships, nationality, and cultural heritage. Parentage can also determine important legal rights and responsibilities, such as a child’s inheritance rights.

When the Family Law Act came into force in March 2013 it gave British Columbia its first comprehensive legislative framework for the law of parentage. The goals of this legislative framework were to provide a complete scheme that addresses children equally, no matter whether the child was born through natural or assisted reproduction, to protect children’s best interests, and to promote family stability.

This project will examine whether part 3 is meeting these goals, in light of developments that have taken place in the law, society, and reproductive technology since the Family Law Act came into force.

Funder

The Review of Parentage under Part 3 of the Family Law Act was made possible by funding from the Justice Services Branch, Ministry of Attorney General for British Columbia.

Related Blog Posts

Reflecting All Families – discussing the gaps and needs to transform and review legal parentage on CBA BC’s Bartalk (October 5, 2021)

Orders declaring parentage and role of best interests of the child taken up at September parentage committee meetings (September 29, 2021)

Parentage project committee continues its review of court declarations of parentage (August 31, 2021)

Parentage project committee considers court declarations of parentage (July 29, 2021)

BCLI launches project to review the law of parentage under part 3 of the Family Law Act (September 21, 2020)