On March 18, 2013, British Columbia’s new Family Law Act comes into force, replacing the former Family Relations Act. The new Family Law Act seeks to legislate presumptive rules around parentage in a society where the structure of the family is moving further and further away from the traditional married, heterosexual parental unit. As families are becoming generally more complicated, so is the law.
Where a child is born in a heterosexual relationship where
the parents are married, the father is presumed to be the father. Once presumed
to be the father, the onus lies on him to make an application for a paternity
test to prove otherwise.
Where a child is born to parents as a result of a donor,
such as a same sex couple who utilizes assisted reproduction to have a child,
the two same sex partners are the parents of the child and the donor is not.
This principle also applies to heterosexual couples who access assisted
reproduction as well.
Where a child is born to a surrogate on behalf of another couple,
the intended parents of the child and not the surrogate will be the parents of
the child only if the surrogate gives
permission in writing to both the parentage and after the child is born
gives written permission to surrender of the child into the care of the
intended parents.
Oddly, the new legislation provides that a father is
presumed to be the natural parent of a child if he was married to the mother
within 300 days of the child’s birth. In most normal circumstances, a divorce
requires the parties to live separate and apart for one year prior to an order
for divorce being granted. The average human gestation period, according to
Wikepedia, is 259 - 294 days. So, theoretically, a man may have left his
marriage a full 624 to 659 days prior to his former wife having a child, and
still could be placed in a situation where the onus is on him to prove that he
is not the father. Maury Povich anyone?
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