Child support in BC is set by the Federal Child Support Guidelines. The basic amount comes from a table that depends on the paying parent's gross annual income and the number of children. Special expenses such as child care and health costs are added on top and shared in proportion to the parents' incomes.

There is no automatic right to spousal support. A spouse must first show entitlement, which turns on the economic effects of the relationship and its breakdown. Amount and duration then follow from how long the spouses lived together, the roles each played, and their means and needs, with the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines used to produce a range.

Family property is everything either spouse owns on the date of separation, and each spouse is presumed entitled to half of it. Excluded property is what a spouse brought into the relationship or received personally during it, such as an inheritance or a gift from someone outside the marriage. The spouse keeps the excluded property itself, but the growth in its value during the relationship is divided.

Largely yes. Under BC's Family Law Act, people who have lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least two continuous years are spouses, and the same family-property and family-debt rules apply to them as to married couples. The differences are the two-year threshold, a limitation period that runs from separation rather than divorce, and that the federal Divorce Act does not apply.

Not without notice, and often not without agreement or a court order. Where a written agreement or order about parenting applies, a guardian who plans a move that would significantly affect the child's relationships must give the other guardian at least 60 days' written notice. The other guardian then has 30 days to apply to court to stop it. Who has to prove what depends on how parenting time has been shared.

Once you have been separated for a year, an uncontested divorce in BC is handled on paper through the Supreme Court registry, with no court appearance. With a complete, correct file it typically takes four to six months from filing to the divorce order, and the divorce takes effect 31 days after the order is made.

BC law does not use "custody" and "access". Under the Family Law Act, each parent who lived with the child is normally a guardian; guardians hold the parental responsibilities, which are the decisions about a child's life; and parenting time is the time the child spends with each guardian. Every arrangement is decided on the child's best interests alone, and no arrangement is presumed.

Yes. Under BC's Family Law Act an agreement that resolves a family law dispute binds the parties, whether or not it is filed in court and whether or not a lawyer was involved. A court can set aside the property or spousal support terms only on specific grounds, such as non-disclosure or a spouse not understanding the agreement, or where the agreement has become significantly unfair. Child support terms are always open to review against the Guidelines.