Jurisdiction

Date27 July 2022
AuthorJulien D. Payne,Marilyn A. Payne
17
CHAPTER 2
Jurisdiction
A. JUDICIAL JURISDICTION OVER APPLICATIONS FOR CHILD
SUPPORT ON OR AFTER DIVORCE
Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 of the Divorce Act dene the jurisdictional competence of
a court to entertain an original application for a child support order on or after divorce or an
application to vary an existing child support order.1 Subject to the discretionary powers of
transfer conferred by section 6 of the Divorce Act, which applies where the proceedings include
an application for an order for the exercise of parenting time or parental decision-making
responsibility, the primary basis for the exercise of jurisdiction under the Act is the “habitual
residence” of either spouse within the province wherein the proceedings are commenced.2
See Julien Payne & Marilyn Payne, Canadian Family Law, th ed (Toronto: Irwin Law, ) ch . And
see Canada, Department of Justice, Legislative Background: An act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family
Orders and Agreements Enforcement Act and the Garnishment Attachment and Pension Diversion Act
and to make consequential amendments to another Act (Bill C-78) ( January ), online:
www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/-lf/famil/c/.html, now SC , c ; see also Canada, Department
of Justice, e Divorce Act Changes Explained, online: www.justice.gc.ca/eng/-df/c-mdf/dace-clde/
index.html.
 See Hiebert v Fingerote,  ABQB ; Qin v Dai,  BCSC . And see Oce of the Children’s Law-
yerv Balev,  SCC ; RVW v CLW,  ABCA ; OM v ED,  ABCA , discussed in Franks
& Zalev,  “is Week in Family Law,”  September ; De Oliveira v Campb ell,  BCSC ;
Aslanimehr v Hashemi,  BCSC ; van Dijk v van Dijk-DeVos,  BCSC ; Johansson v Janssen,
 BCSC  at para ; Souza v Krahn; Krahn v Alves-Souza,  MBQB ; Muense v Muense,
 MBQB ; JM v IL,  NBCA ; ML v GMD,  NLSC ; Beairsto v Cook,  NSC A ;
Farsi v Da Rocha,  ONCA ; Geliedan v Rawdah,  ONCA ; Adam v Kasmani,  ONSC
 (Div Ct); Cook v Rosenthal,  ONSC ; Droit de la famille — 21910,  QCCS . Compare
Kong v Song,  BCCA ; Smith v Smith,  SKQB . And see Payne and Payne, Canadian Family
Law, th ed (Toronto: Irwin Law, ) ch . See also Nicholas Bala , “O.C.L. v. Balev: Not an ‘Eviscera-
tion’ of the Hague Convention and the International Custody Jurisdiction of the CLRA” ()  CFLQ
. As to whether “habitual residence and ordinary residence are interchangeable concepts,” see Liu v
Xu,  BCSC , citing Mark v Mark, [] UKHL  at para and SRL v KJT,  BCS C . As
to interjurisdictional support orders, see sections – of the Divorce Act: see also sec tions  to . of
the Divorce Act whereby the provisions of the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child
18      ,  
Section 6(1)of the Divorce Act stipulates that if an application for an order for the exercise of
parenting time or parental decision-making responsibility under section 16.1 of the Divorce
Act is made in a divorce proceeding or corollary relief proceeding to a court in a province
and the child of the marriage in respect of whom the order is sought is habitually resident in
another province, the court may, on application by a spouse or former spouse or on its own
motion, transfer the proceeding to a court in that other province. And section 6(2) provides
that if an application for a variation order in respect of a parenting order is made in a vari-
ation proceeding to a court in a province and the child of the marriage in respect of whom
the variation order is sought is habitually resident in another province, the court may, on
application by a former spouse or on its own motion, transfer the variation proceeding to a
court in that other province. Where a court issuing a divorce has not adjudicated the issue
of child support, provincial legislation is a valid means of seeking a child suppor t remedy.3
B. EVIDENCE; PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
Although the Parliament of Canada has exclusive legislative authority over the substantive
law of divorce under section 91(26) of the Constitution Act, 1867,4 control over the applicable
laws of evidence and over matters of practice and procedure are delegated to the provinces
by sections 23 and 25 of the Divorce Act.
e denition of “court” in section 2(1) of the Divorce Act renders it permissible for
the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province to designate a Unied Family Court that
is presided over by federally appointed judges as a court of competent jurisdiction for all
purposes of the Divorce Act.5 In addition, the denition of “appellate court” in section 2(1),
coupled with the provisions of sections 21(6) and 25(3), enable the provinces to determine
the appropriate court for hearing appeals and the procedures to be applied in that court. e
composition of the appellate court may vary according to whether the appeal relates to an
interim order or a permanent order for corollary relief.
Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance have the force of law in Canada in so f ar as they relate
to subjects that fall within the legislative competence of Parliament. See also John-Paul E Boyd, A Brief
Overview of Bill C-, An Act to Amend the Divorce Act and Related Legislation; Part : Amendments
Relating to Interjurisdictional Agreements and Treaties, online Canadian Research Institute For Law
and the Family, June ;  CanLIIDocs . For more detailed analysis, see Presentation of Depart-
ment of Justice, Claire Farid, Marie-Josée Poirier & Andina van Isschot, “Divorce Act Amendments,”
th Annual Family Law Conference, Part , County of Carleton Law Association, Ottawa,  October
; and see online Canada, Department of Justice, Legislative Background: An Act to amend the
Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Act and the Garnishment Attachment
and Pension Diversion Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act (Bill C-, now SC
, c ) ( January ), online: www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/-f/famil/c/.html. While Canada
has signed the convention it is not yet a party. Canada will be in a position to become a party when at
least one province or territory adopts implementing legislation and indicates to the federal government
they are ready for the Convention to apply to them. e application of the Convention in Canada will
therefore occur on a province-by-province basis. Bolded ca ses deal with the amended Divorce Act.
Cheng v Liu,  ONC A  at para , Hourigan JA.
(UK),  &  Vict, c .
 See Gal v Gal, [] OJ No  (Div Ct); see Section H, below in this chapter.

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