Guardianship vs Custody BC: What the Family Law Act Actually Says

BC Dropped "Custody" — Here's What Replaced It

If you've been searching for how to get custody of a grandchild in British Columbia, you'll keep hitting a wall. That's because BC's Family Law Act, which took effect in 2013, eliminated the terms "custody" and "access" entirely. They were replaced with specific functional concepts: guardianship, parental responsibilities, parenting time, and contact.

This isn't just a language change. The old custody framework treated parental authority as a single block — you either had it or you didn't. The current system breaks it into components that a court can allocate separately between multiple guardians.

How the New Terms Map to Old Ones

Guardianship is the overarching legal status. If you're a guardian, you hold parental responsibilities and parenting time with the child. Parents who lived with their child are automatic guardians under Section 39. Other non-parents — including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and family friends — can apply for a court order under Section 51; a valid testamentary or standby appointment under Section 55 is another route.

Parental responsibilities (Section 41) are the decision-making categories: healthcare, education, cultural and religious upbringing, extracurricular activities, and legal representation. A court can give a non-parent guardian all responsibilities or only a subset.

Parenting time (Section 42) is the time a guardian spends with the child. During that time, the guardian makes day-to-day decisions — meals, bedtime, homework, playdates.

Contact (Section 59) is what non-guardians get. It's scheduled time with the child but with zero decision-making authority. A grandparent with a contact order can visit, call, and video chat, but cannot consent to surgery, change schools, or apply for government benefits on the child's behalf.

Guardianship vs. Parenting Order: Which Do Grandparents Need?

A parenting order redistributes responsibilities and time between people who are already guardians. If both parents are guardians and they're separating, a parenting order sorts out who makes which decisions and when the child lives with each parent.

A grandparent who is raising a child isn't a guardian yet. You can't get a parenting order because you don't hold guardianship to begin with. The first step is a Section 51 application to become a guardian. Once appointed, the court order will specify which parental responsibilities you hold and how parenting time is divided between you and any remaining parent-guardians.

The court decides which parental responsibilities to allocate. It may grant all responsibilities or only a subset.

What This Means for Everyday Life

Without guardianship, a relative may need additional proof or consent to act for the child in matters such as:

• School enrollment and educational decisions
• Medical consent beyond basic first aid
• Canada Child Benefit applications
• Passport applications for the child
• Registering the child in extracurricular programs that require parental consent

A contact order grants time with the child, not parental responsibilities. If you're already the child's primary caregiver and need decision-making authority, guardianship under Section 51 or a valid appointment under Section 55 is the relevant legal status.

The Application Path

Filing for guardianship in Provincial Court costs nothing in court fees. You'll need Form 3 with Schedule 7 (the application), Form 5 (the guardianship affidavit), and three background checks — all dated within 60 days before filing the affidavit. The BC Guardianship Court Process Guide covers the entire filing sequence, from choosing your court through to getting certified copies of the order.

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