The last time the federal government updated its Divorce Act, it was the 1990s, when blockbuster movies like Mrs. Doubtfire depicted marital splits as nasty battles between parents, with the kids stuck in the middle.
But while family structures have continued to change and divorce has been normalized, the federal laws that govern legal uncoupling across the land have not been brought up to date. Twenty years after the Divorce Act was last updated, family law scholars like Nicholas Bala at Queen?s University have called out the current legislation as ?archaic.?
Liberal Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould agrees. This week, she tabled Bill C-78, calling her piece of updated legislation a ?historical occasion.?
The bill, which had its First Reading in the House of Commons Tuesday, seeks to make divorce in Canada less adversarial and more focused on the best interests of the children affected by the split. Here?s a breakdown of how the Liberals want to change the Divorce Act:
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6 myths about getting a divorce What are the proposed changes to Canada’s divorce laws"

Full stop, Bill C-78 aims to make divorce less of a war zone. That starts with changing the language: A revamped Divorce Act would ditch the word ?custody? (as in ?...