Mike de Jong, B.C. attorney-general in Vancouver on Thursday, January 17, 2002.Richard Lam
Calling the current family-court system "the most expensive dispute resolution" we have, B.C. Attorney-General Mike de Jong has released draft reforms to family law that include a new emphasis on ways to resolve issues without going to court.
Mr. de Jong said Monday he isn't aiming to cut costs with the reforms, part of the first major review of the Family Relations Act since the 1970s.
Rather, he said in an interview, it's time for change to take account of changing family dynamics and realities over the past three decades.
"In the past 30 years, relationships have changed, society's approach to relationships and what should occur when they break down has changed. We have a statute that determines the law in an area that affects more people and more families than probably any other area of the law, and it's out of date," he said.
"The modernization of the statute is important."
Four years in the making, the provincial Liberal government released a 171-page white paper for review and comments by an Oct. 8 deadline. Mr. de Jong said the government hopes to have a new family relations act ready to be presented in early 2011.
Proposed changes include requiring family-justice professionals to provide early information to clients on dispute-resolution options and extending property division to common-law spouses who have lived together for two years in a marriage-like relationship, or who are in a marriage-like relationship of some permanence and have children together. Debts would also be subject to equal division.
Leonard Krog, the NDP critic for Mr. de Jong's ministry and a family-law practitioner called to the bar in 1980, said he was skeptical about whether the Liberals would put up the money to fund dispute-resolution measures outside the courts.
Mr. Krog, who said he will need time to properly review the plan before a more detailed response, also suggested the government has already decided what to do, making a mockery of its pledge of consultation.
But Mr. de Jong said the proposals are not carved in stone, and he is willing to consider other ideas.
"That's why it's a white paper," he said.