Guardianship in BC Family Law: Who Qualifies and What It Means

Guardianship is the foundation of parenting rights in British Columbia. If you're a guardian, you can have parenting time with your child and exercise parental responsibilities. If you're not, you can only have "contact" — supervised or unsupervised time without any decision-making authority.

Understanding who automatically has guardianship and who needs to apply for it is critical, especially for unmarried parents and families with complex histories.

Automatic Guardianship

Under Section 39 of the Family Law Act, a parent is automatically a guardian if they lived with the child at any point. This applies equally to married parents, common-law partners, and any other parent who cohabited with the child.

Both parents remain guardians after separation — automatically and indefinitely — unless a court order or written agreement removes guardianship. Separation doesn't change your guardian status.

The key test is cohabitation with the child, not marriage or relationship status. If Parent A lived with the child from birth to age 3 and then moved out, they're still a guardian unless formally removed.

When Guardianship Isn't Automatic

A parent who never lived with the child doesn't automatically have guardianship. This situation arises most often when:

• The parents were never in a relationship, or separated before the child's birth
• One parent was absent from the child's life from the beginning
• The child was conceived through a casual relationship

In these cases, the non-guardian parent can become a guardian through a written agreement with the existing guardian(s) or by applying to the court under Section 51 of the FLA. The court applies the best interests of the child test, considering the parent's relationship with the child, their caregiving history, and the existing guardian's views.

What Guardianship Gives You

A guardian has two core rights:

Parenting time — the right to have the child in your care on a schedule set by agreement or court order. During your parenting time, you make all routine daily decisions (meals, bedtime, minor health care).

Parental responsibilities — the right to participate in major decisions about the child's education, healthcare, religious upbringing, and extracurricular activities. These can be shared between guardians or allocated so each guardian handles specific areas.

A guardian also has the right to receive information about the child directly from schools, doctors, and other institutions — they don't need to go through the other parent.

Non-Guardian "Contact"

If you're not a guardian — whether you're a parent who never lived with the child, a grandparent, or another relative — your time with the child is legally defined as "contact" under Section 59 of the FLA. Contact can be ordered by the court even without guardianship, but it doesn't carry decision-making authority.

Grandparents and other relatives can apply for contact orders when it's in the child's best interests, particularly when they have an established relationship with the child that would be disrupted by the separation.

Removing Guardianship

Guardianship can be removed by court order, but courts set a high bar. Removing a parent's guardian status requires evidence that they pose a serious risk to the child or are fundamentally unable to exercise parental responsibilities. Simple disagreements between parents about parenting styles aren't enough.

If the court removes guardianship, the parent may still be granted contact with the child — but without any decision-making power.

Why It Matters for Your Plan

Your guardianship status determines what role you play in your child's life after separation. If both parents are guardians (the most common scenario), the parenting plan needs to address how parental responsibilities are shared and how parenting time is divided. If one parent isn't a guardian, the plan looks fundamentally different.

The British Columbia Custody & Parenting Plan Guide walks through guardianship, parental responsibilities, and parenting time step by step — with worksheets designed for BC's specific legal framework.

See more British Columbia guides →