Bill 142 explained in plain English
Children's Law Reform Amendment Act (Relationship with Grandparents), 2015
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill proposes amendments to the Children's Law Reform Act to help ensure children can maintain relationships with their grandparents.
Bill 142, also known as the Children's Law Reform Amendment Act (Relationship with Grandparents), 2015, proposes changes to Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act. It aims to support the formation and continuation of relationships between children and their grandparents. Specifically, it would create a new rule preventing those with custody of a child from unreasonably blocking contact with grandparents. It would also add considerations for courts when determining a child's best interests, including the child's emotional ties with grandparents and the willingness of a person seeking custody to facilitate contact with grandparents.
- Amends the Children's Law Reform Act.
- Adds a new subsection to Section 20 of the Act that prohibits a person with custody of a child from creating or maintaining unreasonable barriers to a child's relationship with their grandparents.
- Amends Section 24 of the Act to include two new factors for courts to consider when determining a child's best interests: the emotional ties between the child and their grandparents, and the willingness of a person seeking custody to facilitate contact with the child's grandparents.
- Specifies that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Children
- Grandparents
- Parents and individuals with custody of a child
- Courts in Ontario
- Individuals with custody of a child have a new obligation not to create or maintain unreasonable barriers to a child's relationship with their grandparents.
- Courts must consider the child's emotional ties with grandparents and the willingness of a person seeking custody to facilitate contact with grandparents when determining a child's best interests.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill does not define what constitutes 'unreasonable barriers' to a relationship with grandparents. This term would likely be interpreted by the courts.
- The bill states that courts should consider facilitating contact with grandparents 'if such contact would be appropriate in the circumstances,' leaving the determination of appropriateness to the court.
This bill proposes to amend the existing Children's Law Reform Act. It adds a new rule regarding a parent's obligation to facilitate grandparent relationships and adds factors for courts to consider in custody decisions.
Source: An Act to amend the Children’s Law Reform Act
A new subsection (2.1) is added to Section 20. This subsection states that a person who has custody of a child must not create or maintain unreasonable barriers to the formation and continuation of a personal relationship between the child and the child's grandparents.
Source: Section 20
This subsection, which lists factors for courts to consider when determining a child's best interests in custody matters, is amended to include: the child's emotional ties with their grandparents, and the willingness of each person applying for custody to facilitate contact between the child and their grandparents, provided such contact is appropriate.
Source: Subsection 24 (2)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced