Custody, Guardianship and Access

If you want to be responsible for your child's care, select the resources on parenting. If you are wondering about visitation rights with your child, you are interested in access. If you want to know more about being granted parental authority over a child, resources on guardianship will be of interest to you.

Alberta Courts: Family court assistance for self-represented litigants

Family Justice Services are a group of programs and services offered by Alberta Justice in collaboration with the courts of Alberta. This webpage provides general information for those who are representing themselves in a family matter in either Court of Queen’s Bench or The Provincial Court of Alberta. Family Law includes all of the legal issues that arise when couples separate or when parties are parenting children together. Family Law does not include criminal charges against a family member, or issues that arise when a family member dies. This site provides general information only.

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Apply for interjurisdictional spousal or partner support orders

This Alberta government site provides informtation on how to apply for spousal or partner support if you or the other party lives outside Alberta. An Interjurisdictional Support Order (ISO) application can create, change or enforce a support order when the payor or recipient lives outside Alberta. Did you know you can prepare an ISO application if you: were divorced outside Canada, were never married, were married but a divorce action hasn’t been started, aren’t making a first-time application for support,  and haven’t started a divorce action in Alberta.

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Change a Custody and Access Order in Alberta

This Alberta government webpage provides information on how to apply to change the conditions of your Custody and Access Order. The information provided includes how to apply if an order is from Alberta and how to apply if an order is from outside Alberta.

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Court Tips for Parents: Representing Yourself in Chambers

This website has multimedia presentations (videos) that provide information on presenting a family matters case in Chambers. The website was created by the Law Courts Education Society of  British Columbia but a lot of the information is relevant to other jurisdictions.

 

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Create a Parenting Plan

This resource helps parents walk through the steps of creating parenting plan. A parenting plan is a written document that outlines how parents will raise their children after separation or divorce. This interactive tool will give you some options to develop a personalized parenting plan. This tool is not intended as legal advice.

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Custody and Access

Custody is the rights and responsibilities of the children’s care and upbringing. This information is provided by Calgary Legal Guidance. It discusses custody, parenting, and contact of children after separation or divorce.

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Custody, Access, and Parenting Time

This online resource is from the Student Legal Services of Edmonton. This information is for  non-married parents, Adult Interdependent Partners and married parents not seeking a divorce. Topics include: Who Is A Parent?; Who Is A Guardian?; Parenting Orders; Parenting Time; The “Best Interests” Of The Child; Contact Orders; Court Orders; Frequently Asked Questions. This resource is also available for download as a PDF.

 

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Family Law Kits

Family Justice Services are a group of programs and services offered by Alberta Justice in collaboration with the courts of Alberta. Family Justice Services works directly with individuals and also with the judges of the Alberta Provincial Court and Court of Queen’s Bench to help people get appropriate solutions for their family law issues.

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Family Mediation Services (Alberta Courts)

Family Mediation Services offers free information and assistance with: bringing applications in Provincial (Family) Court concerning custody, access and private guardianship of children; mediation services to assist families in resolving parenting issues, e.g. custody, access, private guardianship and child support; courses to improve parenting skills and communication between parents who are living apart; and other court-directed services intended to aid in resolving parenting disputes.

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General Information Booklet: Guardianship, Parenting, Custody, Access and Contact

This booklet will give you general information about the law relating to guardianship, parenting, custody, access and contact.and the principles applied by the court when deciding matters relating to the care of children. If your application deals with these issues, you should read this booklet before starting to fill out your court forms. This information is general in nature, and is not intended to be an in-depth discussion of all legal issues relating to children.

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Youth and the Law in Alberta FAQs

These “How old do I have to be?” FAQs are provided by the Canadian Legal FAQs, a website of the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta. They provide answers for youth about age-related issues under various topics: family, criminal, medical and health related, legal and financial, activities (such as driving), school and work.

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