Glossary of Legal Terms

Parental responsibilities are the important decision-making responsibilities guardians have for a child. They can include decisions about health, education, religion, and protecting the child’s legal and financial interests.

Parenting arrangements describe how guardians will parent a child after separation. They include the allocation of parenting time and parental responsibilities.

A parenting assessment is a professional assessment used in some parenting disputes to help the court understand a child’s needs and the parenting arrangements that may best serve those needs.

A parenting coordinator is a professional who helps separated parents implement, manage, and in some cases resolve certain disputes about parenting arrangements after separation.

A parenting order is a court order that sets out parenting arrangements for a child. It may deal with parenting time, parental responsibilities, and related child-focused issues.

Parenting time is the time a child spends with a guardian. During that time, the guardian is responsible for the child’s care and makes day-to-day decisions.

A payor is the person who must make support payments under an agreement or court order. The term is commonly used for child support and spousal support matters.

A protection order is a court order made to help protect a person and, in some cases, a child from family violence. It can place conditions or restrictions on the person the order is made against.

Provincial Court is one of the courts that deals with many family law matters in British Columbia. Its jurisdiction depends on the type of family issue involved.