A long distance parenting plan in New Brunswick is a written schedule that governs parenting time, decision-making responsibility, and virtual contact when parents live in different provinces, countries, or distant regions. Under the Divorce Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 3 (2nd Supp.) and the Family Law Act, S.N.B. 2020, c. 23, a relocating parent must give 60 days' written notice, and courts decide every plan by the best interests of the child.
Parents facing separation across distance in New Brunswick must reconcile two statutes at once: the federal Divorce Act for married spouses and the provincial Family Law Act for unmarried and non-divorcing parents. Both were modernized to replace "custody" and "access" with parenting time and decision-making responsibility. This guide explains how to build an enforceable remote parenting plan, when the 60-day relocation notice applies, how virtual visitation is scheduled, and what the Court of King's Bench weighs before approving an out-of-province arrangement.
Key Facts: New Brunswick Divorce and Parenting (2026)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Filing fee | Approximately $110 ($100 petition + $10 Clearance Certificate). As of August 2026. Verify with your local clerk. |
| Waiting period | 31-day appeal period after the divorce judgment before the divorce takes effect; one-year separation is the most common ground |
| Residency requirement | One spouse habitually resident in New Brunswick for 1 year before filing (Divorce Act § 3(1)) |
| Grounds for divorce | Marriage breakdown by 1-year separation, adultery, or cruelty (Divorce Act § 8) |
| Property division type | Equal division of marital property under the Family Law Act (community-of-effort, not community property) |
| Relocation notice | 60 days' written notice for a significant move (Divorce Act § 16.9; Family Law Act relocation provisions) |
| Governing court | Court of King's Bench, Family Division |
What Is a Long-Distance Parenting Plan in New Brunswick?
A long distance parenting plan in New Brunswick is a legally recognized document that allocates parenting time and decision-making responsibility between parents separated by significant geography — typically more than a 1.5-to-2-hour drive, a provincial border, or an international boundary. Because daily exchanges are impossible, the plan front-loads extended blocks of parenting time (school breaks, summers, alternating holidays) and formalizes virtual visitation through video calls. New Brunswick's Court of King's Bench, Family Division, can incorporate the plan into a parenting order.
The distinguishing feature of a remote parenting plan is that it trades frequency for duration. Where a local schedule might give an out of state parent alternating weekends, a long-distance plan concentrates in-person parenting time into fewer but longer visits — for example, 6 to 8 weeks each summer, the full March break, and alternating winter holidays. New Brunswick courts assess these arrangements under the same best-interests standard as any parenting order, but they pay particular attention to travel feasibility, cost allocation, and the child's ability to maintain a meaningful bond with the distant parent. A well-drafted plan reduces litigation risk and gives both households a predictable structure. If you are still mapping your next steps, our personalized divorce roadmap can help you sequence the parenting-plan, filing, and support decisions in order.
The Legal Framework: Divorce Act and Family Law Act
Two statutes govern long-distance parenting in New Brunswick, and which one applies depends on marital status. Married spouses seeking divorce fall under the federal Divorce Act, which since March 1, 2021 uses "parenting time" and "decision-making responsibility" under Divorce Act § 16.1. Unmarried parents and separating spouses who are not divorcing fall under the provincial Family Law Act, S.N.B. 2020, c. 23, in force since April 1, 2021. Both apply the best interests of the child as the only test.
The 2021 modernization was deliberate. The Divorce Act abolished the win-lose language of "custody" and "access" and directs courts to allocate parenting time and decision-making responsibility according to the child's best interests, a standard codified at Divorce Act § 16. New Brunswick's Family Law Act mirrors this framework for the roughly parallel population of unmarried parents, providing for parenting orders, contact orders (for grandparents and other non-parents), and relocation rules. A key default under the Family Law Act is that on separation, parents share joint decision-making responsibility and parenting time unless a written agreement or court order says otherwise. Neither statute presumes equal time; both instead give effect to the principle that a child should have as much time with each parent as is consistent with the child's best interests. Understanding decision-making responsibility is essential before you draft any remote plan, because a long-distance arrangement often keeps decision-making joint even when parenting time is heavily weighted to one household.
The 60-Day Relocation Notice Requirement
A parent who intends to relocate with a child in New Brunswick must give at least 60 days' written notice to every person who has parenting time, decision-making responsibility, or contact with the child. This requirement appears in Divorce Act § 16.9 for married spouses and in the parallel Family Law Act relocation provisions for unmarried parents. The notice must state the expected date of the move, the new address, contact information, and a proposal for how parenting time or contact would work after the relocation.
The 60-day rule is the single most important trigger in any long distance parenting plan New Brunswick families create, because relocation is what usually turns a local arrangement into a remote one. Once notice is served, the other parent has 30 days to file an objection. If no objection is filed within that window and no court order prohibits the move, the relocating parent may generally proceed. If an objection is filed, the relocating parent must obtain a court order authorizing the move before relocating with the child. New Brunswick courts then apply the additional relocation factors in Divorce Act § 16.92, which sit on top of the general best-interests factors. Critically, the burden of proof shifts depending on the existing schedule: where the child spends substantially equal time with each parent, the relocating parent must prove the move is in the child's best interests; where the child spends the vast majority of time with the relocating parent, the objecting parent carries the burden. Courts are expressly forbidden from asking whether the relocating parent would move without the child — a rule designed to protect a parent's freedom of movement.
Building a Long-Distance Parenting Time Schedule
An effective long-distance parenting time schedule in New Brunswick maximizes uninterrupted blocks with the out of state parent rather than scattering short visits. Typical remote schedules allocate 6 to 8 weeks of summer parenting time, the entire March break (roughly 1 week), alternating winter holidays (2 weeks split or alternated), and one long weekend every 4 to 6 weeks where travel distance permits. The plan should specify who travels, who pays, and exact pickup and return dates to eliminate ambiguity.
Because New Brunswick courts evaluate schedules by feasibility and cost, precision protects both parents. A durable remote schedule answers concrete questions in writing: Does the child fly as an unaccompanied minor, and at what age? Which parent drives to the halfway exchange point, and where is it? How are dates confirmed each year — for example, both parents exchanging written proposals by a fixed deadline such as April 1 for the summer block? A useful drafting standard is to tie recurring blocks to the school calendar rather than to fixed dates, so the plan self-adjusts each year. Parents should also address make-up parenting time when weather, illness, or flight cancellations disrupt a visit, and build in a right of first refusal so the distant parent can supervise during the local parent's extended absences. To model how a proposed division of days actually breaks down, run the numbers with our Canada parenting time calculator before you commit the schedule to a parenting order.
Virtual Visitation and FaceTime Custody Provisions
Virtual visitation — sometimes called FaceTime custody — is the backbone of a remote parenting plan, and New Brunswick courts routinely order it as a supplement to in-person parenting time. A strong plan specifies scheduled video contact, such as three 20-to-30-minute video calls per week at fixed times (for example, 7:00 p.m. Atlantic Time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday), plus reasonable spontaneous contact. Virtual contact does not replace physical parenting time; it preserves the parent-child bond between longer visits.
Courts treat virtual visitation as a form of parenting time or contact that must be facilitated in good faith, and a parent who obstructs scheduled calls can face enforcement. To make FaceTime custody workable, the plan should name the platform (or leave it flexible), require both households to maintain reliable devices and internet, and obligate the local parent to have the child available, charged, and undistracted at the agreed times. For younger children, the plan should account for shorter attention spans with more frequent but briefer calls. It is also wise to address privacy — that the local parent will not monitor or record calls — and to allow the distant parent to share the child's routine through the call rather than being limited to a scripted check-in. Where age-appropriate, the plan can add asynchronous contact such as recorded bedtime stories or shared digital photo streams. Remote parenting and virtual visitation clauses are increasingly standard because they measurably support the meaningful-relationship principle at the heart of both the Divorce Act and the Family Law Act.
Decision-Making Responsibility Across Distance
Distance does not automatically end joint decision-making responsibility in New Brunswick. Under Divorce Act § 16.3 and the Family Law Act, a parent living out of province can retain equal authority over major decisions — education, health care, religion, and significant extracurricular activities — even when parenting time is concentrated in the other household. Courts separate the two questions: who the child lives with day-to-day, and who decides the major issues.
In practice, long-distance families often keep decision-making responsibility joint while assigning day-to-day decisions to whichever parent is exercising parenting time at the moment. A well-drafted plan defines which decisions are "major" (requiring consultation and agreement) and which are "routine" (made by the parent then caring for the child), and it sets a communication protocol — for example, that non-urgent decisions be raised by email with a 5-business-day response window. Because the parent with primary parenting time controls the child's home base, the plan should guarantee the distant parent timely access to report cards, medical records, and school portals; both the Divorce Act and Family Law Act give each parent the right to request information about the child's health, education, and welfare unless a court orders otherwise. Where conflict is high, a plan may allocate final decision-making in specific domains (say, education to one parent, health to the other) to avoid deadlock while preserving each parent's voice. If safety concerns exist, decision-making can be assigned solely to one parent — a common outcome where the record shows family violence.
Travel Logistics, Costs, and Exchange Arrangements
New Brunswick courts expect a long-distance parenting plan to allocate travel costs and logistics explicitly, because unresolved travel disputes are a leading cause of return trips to court. Plans commonly split airfare or mileage 50/50, or apportion costs in proportion to income, and they name the responsible parent for booking, accompanying the child, or arranging unaccompanied-minor services. A typical inter-provincial round-trip airfare in Atlantic Canada ranges from $300 to $700, so the cost provisions are financially material.
The exchange mechanics deserve the same precision as the schedule itself. For driving-distance separations, plans often designate a neutral midpoint exchange location and alternate which parent drives; for flying distances, they specify the departure airport, who checks the child in, and the minimum age at which the child may fly alone (most Canadian carriers permit unaccompanied minors from age 8, with mandatory supervised service to about age 11). The plan should require that travel itineraries be shared a set number of days in advance — for example, 14 days — and address passport custody and consent letters for international travel, since a child crossing a border generally needs written consent from the non-accompanying parent. Building in a contingency clause for cancelled flights, storms, or illness (including who absorbs re-booking costs and how missed parenting time is made up) prevents a single disruption from escalating. Because travel expenses interact with child support, parents should coordinate these terms with support planning; you can estimate obligations using our Canada child support calculator.
How New Brunswick Courts Decide: Best-Interests Factors
Every long-distance parenting decision in New Brunswick turns on the best interests of the child, the sole test under Divorce Act § 16 and the Family Law Act. Courts weigh the child's needs, the strength of the child's relationship with each parent, each parent's willingness to support the child's relationship with the other, the child's views, cultural and linguistic heritage, and any history of family violence. For relocation, Divorce Act § 16.92 adds factors including the reason for the move and the feasibility of preserving the child's bond with the non-moving parent.
The table below summarizes the core best-interests factors New Brunswick judges apply and how each specifically shapes a remote parenting plan.
| Best-Interests Factor | Statutory Source | Impact on a Long-Distance Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Child's needs (age, stage) | Divorce Act § 16(3)(a) | Younger children get shorter, more frequent virtual contact; teens get longer blocks |
| Relationship with each parent | Divorce Act § 16(3)(c) | Justifies extended summer and holiday parenting time for the distant parent |
| Willingness to support the other bond | Divorce Act § 16(3)(i) | A parent who obstructs FaceTime custody can lose parenting time |
| Child's views and preferences | Divorce Act § 16(3)(e) | Weighed more heavily as the child matures |
| Family violence | Divorce Act § 16(3)(j), § 16(4) | Can result in supervised or solely allocated decision-making |
| Reason for relocation | Divorce Act § 16.92(1)(a) | A move for employment or family support is viewed favourably |
| Feasibility of preserving the bond | Divorce Act § 16.92(1) | Drives the travel-cost and virtual-contact provisions |
A parent's demonstrated commitment to facilitating the other parent's relationship — the "friendly parent" factor — is often decisive in relocation cases, because it predicts whether the long-distance plan will actually be honoured after the move.
Filing, Fees, and Where to Start in New Brunswick
To begin a divorce or parenting application in New Brunswick, one spouse must have been habitually resident in the province for at least one year, and the filing fee is approximately $110 as of August 2026 (verify with your local clerk). Applications proceed in the Court of King's Bench, Family Division, which sits in Bathurst, Campbellton, Edmundston, Fredericton, Miramichi, Moncton, Saint John, and Woodstock. Fee waivers are available for petitioners on social assistance or represented by Legal Aid.
The residency rule in Divorce Act § 3(1) matters in long-distance cases because parents often live in different provinces; the divorce is properly filed where either spouse meets the one-year residency test, and parenting issues can be addressed in that same proceeding. Unmarried parents proceed under the Family Law Act rather than the Divorce Act, but the parenting-order process and best-interests standard are functionally the same. Practically, most parents start by drafting a proposed parenting plan, attempting to resolve it through negotiation or mediation, and only litigating the disputed terms. New Brunswick offers Parenting After Separation resources and a court-connected process designed to encourage agreement. Because relocation and long-distance disputes carry higher stakes and shifting burdens of proof, many parents benefit from legal guidance before serving or objecting to a 60-day notice — you can find a divorce attorney who practises New Brunswick family law to review your plan. For a broader overview of how parenting arrangements are decided, see our explainer on child custody arrangements.