When a Parent Withholds Parenting Time: Enforcement Options in BC

You arrive for your weekend and nobody answers the door, or another text cancels the visit. When it keeps happening, it is tempting to respond in kind: hold back support, turn up unannounced or insist on a handover. Those responses can make your position worse.

BC's Family Law Act sets out a specific process for denied parenting time and contact. This guide explains when a denial is wrongful, what a court can order, the time limit to apply, and the practical steps to take before you file anything.

Start with what your arrangement actually says

Under BC's Family Law Act, parenting time is the time a child spends with a guardian under an agreement or order. Contact is the word used for time with someone who is not a guardian, such as a grandparent. If you are unsure which applies to you, our guide to guardianship, parenting time and decision-making explains the terms.

The court's process for denied time is open to a person entitled to parenting time or contact under an agreement or an order. That makes the form of your arrangement important:

• A court order is already on the court file and can be enforced directly.
• A written agreement about parenting arrangements that is filed with the court is enforceable as if it were an order of the court. In Provincial Court, an agreement is filed with a Request to File an Agreement (Form 26).
• An informal arrangement worked out by text or conversation may still be a binding agreement, although proving that it exists and what its terms are can be difficult. Have it assessed before assuming enforcement is unavailable. A signed written agreement filed with the court is enforceable like a court order.

First steps when your time is denied

What you do early on shapes how a judge sees the situation later:

• Keep a record. Note each scheduled visit, what happened, and any reason given. Keep receipts for travel, child care and lost wages, because those are costs a court can order the other parent to repay.
• Communicate in writing. Keep messages short, calm and about the child. Ask for the time, propose make-up time, and avoid arguments about the past. Assume a judge may read every message.
• Keep paying child support. Parenting time and child support are separate obligations. The Province is clear that a parent cannot deny parenting time because support is behind, and the same logic applies in reverse: stopping support does not enforce your time. Unpaid support can be collected through the BC Family Maintenance Agency, which can garnish wages and block licence renewals.
• Do not force the issue at the door. Showing up to demand a handover or keeping the child longer in response can be used against you and is hard on the child.
• Watch the clock. An application about denied parenting time or contact must be made within 12 months after the denial.

Family dispute resolution, such as mediation, is often worth trying first. The Province's Family Justice Centres offer family justice services, and a court can order the parties to take part in family dispute resolution anyway.

When withholding time is not wrongful

Not every missed visit is a wrongful denial. The Family Law Act says a denial is not wrongful in these situations:

• the guardian reasonably believed the child might suffer family violence if the time went ahead;
• the guardian reasonably believed the other person was impaired by drugs or alcohol when the time was due;
• the child was ill, and the guardian has a written statement from a medical practitioner or nurse practitioner that the visit should not go ahead;
• the other person had repeatedly failed, without reasonable notice or excuse, to use their time in the 12 months before the denial, or had said they would not be using the time and did not later give reasonable notice that they would;
• other circumstances the court considers sufficient justification.

Even where a denial was not wrongful, the court can still set a period of compensatory time. If you are the parent holding back time because of a genuine safety concern, get advice quickly. The question will be whether your belief was reasonable, and repeated cancellations are rarely a substitute for asking the court to change the arrangement.

What a court can order

If the court finds that you were wrongfully denied parenting time or contact, the Family Law Act lets it make one or more of these orders:

• that the parties take part in family dispute resolution;
• that one or more parties, or the child, attend counselling or specified services or programs;
• a period of compensatory parenting time or contact;
• that the other guardian repay reasonable and necessary expenses caused by the denial, such as travel, lost wages and child care;
• that transfers of the child be supervised by a person named in the order;
• that the other guardian give security or report to the court or a named person, if there is reason to think they will not comply;
• that the other guardian pay up to $5,000 to you or for the benefit of the child, or pay a fine of up to $5,000.

The court can also act in the other direction. If a parent repeatedly fails to use their own time, the court can order counselling, family dispute resolution or supervised transfers, and repayment of expenses the other parent incurred.

Police enforcement and jail are exceptional

The Act allows a court that has found a wrongful denial to order a police officer to apprehend the child and take the child to the parent who was denied time. It also allows imprisonment of up to 30 days where a person has not complied with an order and no other order would secure compliance. The Province describes these extraordinary remedies as almost never in the child's best interest, so do not plan around them.

How an enforcement application works

In Provincial Court, the process starts with an Application About Enforcement (Form 29), supported by an affidavit that sets out the order or agreement, each denial and its effect. The application is served on the other parent, and a judge hears from both sides before deciding what to order. Your written record and messages become the evidence.

Which court to use depends on where your order was made and what else is in dispute, such as property or a divorce. Supreme Court procedure is different, and a lawyer can tell you which route fits your file.

Urgent safety concerns are different

An enforcement application is not the tool for an emergency. If you or your children are in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police.

Where there is a risk of family violence, a protection order is a separate process. You can apply to protect yourself, your child, or both, and a judge can hear an application without notice to the other party when immediate protection is needed. If you fear the child may be taken out of BC, the Family Law Act also lets the court restrict where a child can be taken and, in some cases, order passports to be surrendered.

Being kept from your child? Get advice before the next missed visit

Our family lawyers can review your order or agreement, help you organise your record of missed time, and prepare an application to enforce or change your parenting arrangements.

Call 604-259-2844 or send us a message to arrange a consultation at our Vancouver office.