New Resources for the New Rules

The complete, official text of the new Supreme Court Family Rules, including the new forms prescribed by those rules is available on the website of the Queen's Printer. Bookmark this link!

I have posted a number of my papers on the new rules for free public download on my own website, in the Rules 101 chapter. Topics include:

• Index and Concordance: Rules Commonly Referenced - An alphabetized index of the new rules to the current Supreme Court Rules of Court.
• Timelines, Deadlines and Limitation Periods - Like it sounds, a digest of the new rules' timelines and deadlines.
• Commencing Proceedings: Process and Procedure - A review of the processes for commencing proceedings by Notice of Family Claim and Petition and the rules about personal service and ordinary service.
• Chambers Proceedings: Process and Procedure - A digest of the process for all chambers applications, including applications for interim orders, final orders by summary trial, variation proceedings and petition proceedings.
• Practice Tips: Tidbits, Oddities and Miscellanea - A summary of some of the more interesting quirks of the new rules from a lawyer's perspective.
  

Journal Publishes List of Stepfamily Self-Help Books

The December 2009 edition of Family Relations, an organ of the National Council on Family Relations, contains a very interesting article in which the authors evaluate the usefulness of 64 self-help books for stepfamilies based on readability, content, references to the scientific literature, the qualifications of the author and comprehensiveness.

Without getting into the details of the article, the 13 books which made it into the "strongly recommended" list were, in alphabetical order:

1. Boyd, H. The step-parent's survival guide (1998, London, Ward Lock)
2. Fletcher, J.B. A career girl's guide to becoming a step-mom (2007, New York, Harper)
3. Lauer, R.H. & Lauer, J.C. Becoming family: How to build a stepfamily that really works (1999, Minneapolis, Augsburg)
4. Lutz, E. The complete idiot's guide to stepparenting (1998, New York, Alpha)
5. Mulford, P.G. Keys to successful stepmothering (1996, Hauppauge, Barron's)
6. Newman, M. Stepfamily realities: How to overcome difficulties and have a happy family (1993, Oakland, New Harbinger)
7. Norwood, P.K. & Wingender, T. The enlightened stepmother (1999, New York, Avon)
8. O'Connor, A. The truth about stepfamilies (2004, New York, Marlowe)
9. Pickhardt, C.E. Keys to successful stepfathering (1997, Hauppauge, Barron's)
10. Rosenblum, G. Stepfamilies: Making it great (2000, Minneapolis, Creative Publishing)
11. Thomas, S. Two happy homes (2005, Longmont, Spingboard Publications)
12. Tufnell, C. & Tufnell, T. Every step counts (2007, Oxford, Lion)
13. Visher, E.B. & Visher, J.S. How to win as a stepfamily (1991, New York, Routledge)

"An Evaluation of the Remarriage and Stepfamily Self-Help Literature" was written by Marilyn Coleman and Lynette Nickleberry, both of the University of Missouri.

Parenting Coordinators Group Expands Roster

The BC Parenting Coordinators Roster Society has updated its website, and, along with it, posted an expanded roster of parenting coordinators, bringing the total number of members to 29.

The Society, first established as an unincorporated association in 2007, has finally been incorporated as a non-profit society under the provincial Society Act. The directors of the Society will shortly be establishing a variety of committees to promote parenting coordination in British Columbia, and will be hosting the Society's first Annual General Meeting in the late fall of 2010 or early spring of 2011.

BC Announces Domestic Violence Policy

On Monday the provincial Solicitor General's office announced the government's policy response to the coroner's inquest into the 2007 deaths of Yong Sun Park, her son Christian Lee and her parents Kum Lea Chun and Moon Kyu Park at the hands of Park's husband, Peter Lee. The deaths sparked broad public concern into handling of domestic violence cases by the government and police.

According to the press release issued by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, the government will:

• establish a uniform policy on the investigation of domestic violence complaints, and flag such complaints so that all officials involved are aware the case involves an allegation of domestic violence;
  
• establish a specialized domestic violence unit in the capital district, where the murders took place;
• review deaths relating to domestic violence between 1995 and 2009; and,
• establish a standard set of bail conditions to be requested when an accused is identified as high risk.
  

New Paper on the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines

The Department of Justice has just published a paper I've written on the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines. The paper is a rather technical look at the data required to run Advisory Guidelines calculations and the determination of income for spousal support purposes, and reviews the various tax deductions, benefits and credits allowed by the Advisory Guidelines.

I'm afraid that my paper isn't very accessible as it is was written for lawyers and judges who are already familiar with and use the Advisory Guidelines frequently, nevertheless it's publicly available for anyone interested in reading it.

Website Begins Integration of New Rules

On 1 July 2010, the current Supreme Court Rules of Court will be replaced with two new sets of rules, one for general civil litigation and one for family law matters (PDF). This isn't the sort of tinkering we're used to seeing every summer, this is a stem to stern overhaul with brand new rules and new court forms. Even the names of the parties are changing!

The Rules of Court are tremendously important. They guide the conduct of every aspect of the law suits before the court, from how service is effected to the scheduling of applications to the production of documents and the remedies available when production is inadequate. When the rules change, it's a big deal. It also means that websites like mine need to have overhauls of their own to make sure that they stay current.

A new section of my website, Rules 101, offers an overview of the new family law rules and will be updated from time to time as I'm able to compile the information. So far, Rules 101 has a summary of procedure under the new rules, new rules' deadlines and timelines, and a description of the process for chambers proceedings.

My July 2009 post Government Announces Implementation of New Family Law Rules discusses the new rules and has links to all of the relevant background documents.

More Cuts to Legal Aid, Part 2

I have just learned that a number of family law lawyers and criminal law lawyers in Kamloops have formed a committee and voted to withdraw duty counsel services in response to the recent cuts to legal aid including the closure of their regional Legal Services Society office, and the impact the cuts will have on access to justice. The spokespeople for the committee are Graham Kay (250-374-1989) and David Dundee (250-828-9998).

The strike will begin on 11 January 2010 and affect Provincial Court criminal law matters and Provincial Court and Supreme Court family law matters in Kamloops and Merit.

Read Part 1.