The Divorce Act Changes Explained

Miscellaneous

Regulations prevail
(Section 26(2), Divorce Act)

New section

Subsection 26(2) of the Act is replaced by the following:

Regulations prevail

(2) Regulations made under paragraph (1)(b) prevail over rules made under section 25.
Old section

Regulations prevail

(2) Any regulations made pursuant to subsection (1) to provide for uniformity in the rules prevail over those rules.

What is the change

The amendment specifies that regulations made under s 26(1)(b), which provides for uniformity in the rules, would prevail over the rules made under s 25.

Reason for the change

The Governor in Council may make regulations providing for rules that would prevail over those made under s 25. Section 25 allows a competent authority under the laws of a province to make rules regulating the practice and procedure in a court. To ensure uniformity, s 26(2) provides that regulations made under s 26(1)(b) prevail over rules made by a competent authority in a province. This is a technical change, as reference is made to s 26(1)(b) rather than s 26(1).

When

This provision came into force on June 21, 2019.