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Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent, Final Report 117


Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent, Final Report 117 recommends that the Wills and Succession Act be reformed to allow a child to apply for family maintenance and support from the estate of a person who stood in the place of a parent. Who is a Person Standing in the Place of a Parent? To be in place of a parent a person must […]

AREA OF LAW Wills and Succession Family Law
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FORMAT Publications
FILE FR117.pdf

January 25, 2022

Competence and Communication in the Alberta Evidence Act, Final Report 111


On occasion, a court must determine whether a proposed witness is competent to give evidence. The question arises with child witnesses and may also arise for adults with cognitive impairment. Alberta legislation reflects outdated assumptions about children’s abilities and fails to address adults with cognitive impairment. It also has a gap affecting witnesses who use alternative means of communication. Other Canadian jurisdictions have already reformed legislation to address these issues. The Alberta Law Reform Institute […]

AREA OF LAW Administration of Justice Courts Procedure
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FORMAT Publications
FILE FR111.pdf

January 1, 2018

Family Law Project – The Conclusion, Final Report 93


This report sets out the process by which ALRI has proposed rules for the revision of the Alberta Rules of Court. The Rules of Court Committee requested ALRI to review the Alberta Rules of Court. The ultimate goal of the project was to produce clear, more useable and more effective Rules. Other goals included increased fairness, timeliness, cost effectiveness and accessibility. Through extensive consultation, ALRI created a list of proposed Rules. They are arranged in […]

AREA OF LAW Family Law
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FORMAT Publications
FILE fr093.pdf

June 29, 2004

Family Law v. 18.4–Child Guardianship, Custody and Access, Report for Discussion 18.4


As addressed in the other reports in this series, Alberta law relating to the care of children (at the time of this report’s publication) included a variety of statutory provisions that were out-dated, inconsistent, and/or had uncertain scope. For this reason, this report begins from a “clean slate” in trying to define (i) child guardianship, (ii) custody, and (iii) access, and to determine how these issues can be decided in order to protect the best […]

AREA OF LAW Children Family Law Marriage & Divorce
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FORMAT Publications
FILE rfd18.4.pdf

October 2, 1998

Family Law v. 18.3–Child Support, Report for Discussion 18.3


This report was written to address five concerns about child support law at the time of its publication, viz.: the inadequacy of child support awarded; inconsistency of award between similar families; inefficiency in assessment; inequality based on “legitimacy” of birth; and unaddressed complexities based on the inter-relation between spousal support, custody of children, and child support. This report expounds recommendations for a new approach to child support, which is meant to foster equality for all […]

AREA OF LAW Children Family Law Marriage & Divorce
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FORMAT Publications
FILE rfd18.3.pdf

Family Law v. 18.2–Spousal Support, Report for Discussion 18.2


At the time of publication, Alberta’s law relating to spousal support after a divorce was unique in Canada, in that it incorporated the “fault doctrine.” This doctrine holds that in order to obtain support, a spouse must prove that he or she is the “innocent party” in the divorce (i.e., not responsible for the marriage breakdown), and that the other spouse is culpable (i.e., responsible for the marriage breakdown). This report suggests the elimination of […]

AREA OF LAW Family Law
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FORMAT Publications
FILE rfd18.2.pdf

Status of Children: Revised Report, Final Report 60


This report is a reissue and update from of Report 20, Status of Children, June 1976. The report provided detailed reasons and recommends that there will be one status for all children; that the legal relationship of child and parent be dependent on their biological relationship; that with the exception of parental guardianship, all rights and obligations of the child born out of wedlock, of a parent, or of any other person be determined in […]

AREA OF LAW Wills and Succession Children Family Law
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FORMAT Publications
FILE fr060.pdf

May 29, 1991

Section 16 of the Matrimonial Property Act, Final Report 57


Section 16 of the Matrimonial Property Act, RSA 1980, c M-9, stated that the rights of a person who started a property action against a spouse did not survive that person’s death, and thus the action could not be continued by his or her estate. This was based on the legal policy that matrimonial property should be available for the use of a surviving spouse. This report notes that, in practice, this section led to […]

AREA OF LAW Family Law Marriage & Divorce
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FORMAT Publications
FILE fr057.pdf
ENACTMENT

Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 1991, SA 1991, c 21, s 24 amending the Matrimonial Property Act (now RSA 2000, c M-8, s 16).

March 1, 1990

Towards Reform of the Law Relating to Cohabitation Outside Marriage, Final Report 53


This report addresses the position (at the time of its writing) of opposite-sex couples living together on a domestic basis without a legal marriage. Since these partnerships carry many of the same responsibilities as marriage partnerships, the report suggests that they be afforded similar (but not identical) protections under the law. Twenty-one recommendations are provided here, with the majority opinions falling roughly into the following categories: – Non-married opposite-sex cohabitants should have an official status, […]

AREA OF LAW Family Law Marriage & Divorce
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FORMAT Publications
FILE fr053.pdf

June 1, 1989

Status of Children: Revised Report, Final Report 45


This report is a reissue and update from of Report 20, Status of Children, June 1976. The report provided detailed reasons and recommends that there will be one status for all children; that the legal relationship of child and parent be dependent on their biological relationship; that with the exception of parental guardianship, all rights and obligations of the child born out of wedlock, of a parent, or of any other person be determined in […]

AREA OF LAW Children Family Law
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FORMAT Publications
FILE fr045.pdf
ENACTMENT

Substantially enacted, pursuant to the recommendations in Report 60 by the Family and Domestic Relations Statutes Amendment Act, 1991, SA 1991, c 11 amending the Domestic Relations Act (now RSA 2000, c D-14, ss 50(1), 77-84); the Family Relief Act (now RSA 2000, c F-4, s 1(b)); and the Intestate Succession Act (now RSA 2000, c I-10, s 1(b)).

November 1, 1985

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