"Looseleafs" are publications issued in a binder format. They are updated regularly, normally on an annual basis. These publications often represent the most up-to-date statement of the law on any particular issue.

British Columbia Family Practice Manual

Published by the Continuing Legal Education Society, this looseleaf provides a solid "how-to" guide to family law practice. If you have a question about how to do something, go here first. It will point you to the relevant case law and provide guidance on how to get what you want.

Family Law Sourcebook for British Columbia

Published by the Continuing Legal Education Society, this looseleaf provides a comprehensive survey of every aspect of family law. If you need solid overview of how the courts have handled a subject, this is what you should read.

Family Law Agreements Manual

Published by the Continuing Legal Education Society, this looseleaf is an essential aid to the drafting of family law agreements. It provides not only a guide to the drafting and formal requirements of family agreements, but also examples of clauses dealing with different subjects and situations.

Child Support Guidelines Service

Published by Canada Law Books, this looseleaf provides a topical review of the law on different aspects of the federal Child Support Guidelines.

Divorce Act Manual

Published by Canada Law Books, this looseleaf deals with the current state of the common law dealing with the federal Divorce Act, incuding divorce, child and spousal support, child access and the variation of court Orders made under the act.

Canadian Divorce Law and Practice

Published by Carswells, this looseleaf is a "how-to" sort of resource with an overview of divorce law and family law forms.

British Columbia Family Law Annotated Legislation

Published by Butterworths, this looseleaf covers the legislation relating to family law and provides case law references for most sections of each act. This will show you how the courts have interpreted individual sections of the legislation.

Desk Order Divorce Manual

Published by the Continuing Legal Education Society, this looseleaf is an extremely handy guide to the desk-order divorce process and includes a large selection of sample forms and a guide to filling them out.

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Unlike looseleaf publications, these bound volumes are only current as of the date of their publication. Some of these resources are published on an annual basis, others are updated irregularly, as their authors and publishers see fit.

British Columbia Family Law Practice

Published by LexisNexis, this annually-published book is family law in a box. It has annotated versions of the Divorce Act, the Family Relations Act and the Child Support Guidelines, unannotated versions of important regulations and legislation on family law topics, like the Assisted Human Rproduction Act and the Marriage Act, and the rules of court for the Supreme Court and Provincial (Family) Court.

British Columbia Annual Practice

Published by Canada Law Books, this annually-published book provides the rules of court for both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal with handy annotations covering the important cases that have dealt with each rule. It has an excellent index which will help you find what you need fast. It also contains unannotated versions of the Divorce Act, the Family Relations Act, the Child Support Tables, and other important legislation like the Evidence Act and the Law and Equity Act.

Annual Review of Family Law

Published by Carswells, this book offers an annual update of divorce law. Its primary focus is on the federal legislation, but it also covers family law agreements and the division of assets, and how provincial legislation impacts on these topics.

Bankruptcy and Family Law

Published by Carswells, this book offers a guide to the ways that bankruptcy can impact on divorce including issues unique to each province.

Family Law Mediation Handbook

Published by Butterworths, this book is a practical hands-on primer to the mediation process.

Family Law Mediation A Guide for Lawyers

Published by Canada Law Books, this book describes the basic features of family mediation and provides an overview of the major concepts of family mediation, including the practice and procedures used in mediation.

Preparation of Domestic Contracts

Published by Canada Law Books, this book sets out the basics of creating family agreements and provides examples of clauses dealing with all sorts of different circumstances.

Divorce Guide for British Columbia

Published by Self-Counsel Press, this book offers an easy-to-follow guide to uncontested divorces and the preparation of court documents.

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Self-Counsel Press and LawDepot.com, and I'm sure several more companies as well, sell do-it-yourself kits for:

1. cohabitation agreements (living together agreements);
2. marriage agreements (prenuptial or postnuptial agreements); and,
3. separation agreements.

The Self-Counsel kits offer all or most of the forms you are likely to need, a guide to filling them in, and an explanation of what the forms and the law means. I haven't taken a look at the LawDepot kits and can't say whether they're worthwhile or not. Self-Counsel Press also sells a kit for:

4. desk order divorces.

This package has all of the forms and materials required for the desk order divorce sole and joint processes.

Wherever you get your do-it-yourself kit from, make sure that you're buying a kit for British Columbia in particular and, in the case of divorce kits, make sure that the materials are for the new Supreme Court Family Rules.

There are also a lot of other do-it-yourself resources available on-line and at your local library, many of which are free. (This website offers templates of the most common court forms in The Courts, Court Forms & Case Law and a table of sample forms illustrated in this site is available in the Site Map & Index.) One of the most helpful print resources is:

Desk Order Divorce Manual

Published by the Continuing Legal Education Society, this looseleaf is an extremely thorough guide to the desk order divorce process and includes a large selection of sample forms and a guide to filling them out. This looseleaf will be available for review at your local law library.

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In addition to the paper booklets described below, the Legal Services Society, the provincial Attorney General's office and the federal Department of Justice have all made huge amount of information available online. Go back to the Main Directory and click on Governments & Government Agencies.

A. Legal Services Society

The Legal Services Society, the people who provide legal aid in British Columbia, publishes the following booklets, all of which are available for free.

• Living Common-Law
• Parents' Rights, Kids' Rights
• If Your Marriage Breaks Up
• Sponsorship Breakdown (immigration issues)
• Your Welfare Rights
• Welfare Rights on Indian Reserves in British Columbia

To get a copy of these booklets, write, fax or email LSS at:

Distribution
Legal Services Society
1500-1140 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 4G1

604-682-0965 fax

ho.distribution@lss.bc.ca email

B. Attorney General Publications

Registries of the Provincial (Family) Court offer the rules of court in booklet form. Make sure that they are the rules for family court, as the rules for the other provincial courts will be different. Flyers will be available about Parenting After Separation Programs.

At registries of the Supreme Court, booklets will be available on the desk-order divorce process, blank court forms and a package about the process for making interim applictions.

Registries of both courts usually also carry a booklet on family violence.

C. Department of Justice Publications

The federal Department of Justice has a number of high-quality resources which may be helpful. The Supporting Families website has a lot of information about separation and divorce, including specific information on spousal support, child support, custody and access. Inside this site you'll find a library of department publications and a wide variety of research papers about parenting after separation, the costs of high-conflict separation and other topics relating to child's well being and outcomes following separation. These papers are of a uniformly high quality and are well worth the read.

The department has published a book for 9 to 12 year olds called What Happens Next? available online and in print. The print version is a lot friendlier and what I'd suggest giving to a child.

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