Starting and Responding to Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings

If you need the court to make an order about anything, from the care of children to the payment of spousal support to the division of property, or even just an order for your divorce, you must start a court proceeding. If you can't settle your legal dispute by agreement with the other party first, your court proceeding will end with a trial, after which the judge will make an order. There are certain steps you must take, certain fees you must pay, and certain forms you must fill out before you get to your trial. Although the staff at the court registries are friendly and do their best to be helpful, they cannot provide legal advice, fill out forms for you, or tell you how to manage your court proceeding. It is your job to prepare these materials, gather the evidence you need, and take the other steps necessary to bring your proceeding to a judge at trial.

This section deals with the processes for starting or responding to a proceeding in the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Before starting a court proceeding, you should consider what court you wish to proceed in - the Supreme Court or the Provincial Court. Reasons to proceed in the Supreme Court may include that you wish to resolve an issue relating to the division of family property, family debt, or pensions, which can only be dealt with in the Supreme Court and cannot be addressed, with the exception of ownership or possession of companion animals, in the Provincial Court. The Supreme Court is also able to make divorce orders, which cannot be made by the Provincial Court. However, it is possible to resolve other family law issues, such as parenting, child support, or spousal support, in the Provincial Court and then apply separately in the Supreme Court for a divorce order. Reasons you may not wish to proceed in Supreme Court may include that the Supreme Court Family Rules are comprehensive and Supreme Court processes may be more difficult to navigate than Provincial Court processes if you are representing yourself without the assistance of a lawyer. Additionally, the Supreme Court can make orders for a party to a legal dispute to pay costs to the other party if the other party to the court proceeding is successful in obtaining court orders against them. For more detailed information about the differences between Supreme Court and Provincial Court, see The Court System for Family Matters.

The Supreme Court

To start a proceeding in the Supreme Court, the main document you'll have to prepare is a Notice of Family Claim in Form F3, a special form prescribed by the Supreme Court Family Rules. (This document is one of the basic legal documents in a court proceeding known as "pleadings.") This document says who you are suing and what you're suing them for.

Family law proceedings in the Supreme Court are governed by the Supreme Court Family Rules. It's important that you have a working knowledge of the rules about how court proceedings are started. As your proceeding progresses, you'll also need to learn the rules about judicial case conferences, disclosure, interim applications, and trials. The main rules about Notices of Family Claim and the management of court proceedings in Supreme Court are:

• Rule 1-1: Definitions
• Rule 3-1: Starting a court proceeding
• Rule 4-1: Notices of Family Claim and service requirements
• Rule 4-3: Replying to a Notice of Family Claim
• Rule 5-1: Financial disclosure
• Rule 6-3: Personal service
• Rule 7-1: Judicial case conferences
• Part 9: Disclosure and discovery of documents
• Part 10: Interim applications and chambers procedure
• Rule 11-4: Discontinuing a court proceeding
• Part 13: Expert witnesses
• Rule 11-3: Summary trial procedure
• Rule 14-7: Trial procedure
• Rule 15-2.1: Guardianship orders
• Rule 15-2.2: Corollary relief proceedings and information that must be provided to the court

Links to and examples of the Notice of Family Claim and other court forms can be found in Supreme Court Forms and Examples. For a quick introduction to how to start a proceeding, see How Do I Start a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?. It's located in the Helpful Guides & Common Questions part of this resource.

Quick answers for common questions

The following issues are addressed in the Starting an Action section in the Helpful Guides & Common Questions part of this resource:

• Can't pay your court fees: If you can't afford to pay court fees, you can apply to court to have those fees waived. This used to be called applying for indigent status, but this term is no longer used. To find out more, see How Do I Waive Filing Fees in the Supreme Court?
• Personally serving someone: For a quick summary of what's involved in personal service, see How Do I Personally Serve Someone with Legal Documents?
• Can't personally serve the respondent: If it is impossible to personally serve the Notice of Family Claim on the respondent, you can ask the court to be allowed to use a substitute form of personal service. To find out what's involved, see How Do I Substitutionally Serve Someone with Legal Documents?
• Can't find your ex: If you're not sure where your ex lives in order to start a court proceeding, see How Do I Find My Ex?
• Need to change something in your Notice of Family Claim: To find out what happens when you want to change something in your Notice of Family Claim, see How Do I Change Something in My Notice of Family Claim?
• Want to stop the court proceeding: To find out if you can stop a family law court proceeding in the Supreme Court once you've started it, see How Do I Stop a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?

Preparing, filing and serving the Notice of Family Claim

The claimant, the person starting the court proceeding, must fill out a Notice of Family Claim in Form F3 and file the claim in court to start a court proceeding. The Notice of Family Claim provides certain information, including:

1. the claimant's name and address;
2. the name and address of the person against whom the claim is made, the respondent;
3. the basic history of the parties' relationship;
4. the names and birthdates of any children; and,
5. a list of the orders the claimant would like the court to make.

The court form that must be used is set out in the Supreme Court Family Rules. This is a special form of claim used only in family law cases. Additional pages that require more detailed information must be added to the Notice of Family Claim when the claimant seeks orders about:

1. divorce;
2. the care of children and child support;
3. spousal support;
4. the division of property and debt; and,
5. orders about other subjects, like orders for the protection of people or orders for the change of a person's name.

The Notice of Family Claim must be filed in the court registry and be personally served on the respondent. If you're asking for a divorce order, you'll have to fill out a Registration of Divorce Proceeding form when you file your Notice of Family Claim. It currently costs $200 to file a Notice of Family Claim, or $210 if the claim includes a claim for a divorce. When you file any document in Supreme Court, including the Notice of Family Claim, the registry will keep the original of the document. You will want to make and keep at least two additional copies, one for you to keep and one to give to the other party.

Personal service means physically handing the Notice of Family Claim to the respondent. The Divorce Act and Rule 6-3(2) of the Supreme Court Family Rules say that a claimant cannot serve a respondent themselves. You must either pay a process server to do it or enlist the help of a friend over the age of majority. Don't use one of your children to serve your ex.

Deadline for reply

The respondent has 30 days to file a Response to Family Claim after being served with your Notice of Family Claim. If the respondent doesn't do this, you may be able to get the orders you asked for in your Notice of Family Claim as a default judgment, a final order the court makes when the respondent doesn't file a Response to Family Claim.

You should be aware that judges can be fairly lenient towards people who miss filing deadlines. A claimant should not expect to win on a technicality like this. If a respondent files their Response to Family Claim late, the court will usually give the respondent an extension of time and overlook the missed due date. However, if the respondent just ignores you and ignores your claim, at some point the court will make the order you're asking for.

Sometimes a respondent will not reply to a Notice of Family Claim because they agree to the orders the claimant is asking for. This often happens when the claimant is just asking for a divorce. In a case like this, the court proceeding will qualify as an "undefended family law case" and you can apply for a default judgment under Rule 10-10 of the Supreme Court Rules. For more information about the do-it-yourself divorce process, see the Divorce and the Law on Getting Divorced section in the Separating and Getting Divorced chapter.

The respondent may also file and serve a Counterclaim, setting out claims of their own in relation to your family law matter. If they do, you have two options. You can do nothing or you can respond to the proceeding by Counterclaim and defend yourself. If you completely agree with the orders the other party is asking for in their Counterclaim, doing nothing is the cheapest and quickest way to handle the matter. On the other hand, if you only partly agree or completely disagree you must respond to the Counterclaim by filing a Response to Counterclaim in Form F6 within 30 days after being served with the Counterclaim or you risk losing by default.

Other documents at the outset of your court proceeding

If you have made a claim in the Supreme Court about child support, spousal support, or the division of family property, family debt, or pensions, you may be required to file a Financial Statement in Form F8. If you are required to file a Financial Statement in Form F8 as a result of the claims you have set out in your Notice of Family Claim, you must to do so within 30 days after service of your Notice of Family Claim on the other party. See Disclosure and Discovery in Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings for more information.

If you have made a claim in the Supreme Court under the Divorce Act about child support, spousal support, or parenting, you are required by Rule 15-2.2 of the Supreme Court Family Rules to file a statement of information for corollary relief proceedings in Form F102 before a child support order, spousal support order or parenting order is made.

The next steps

If the respondent has chosen to file a Response to Family Claim, they have decided to oppose some or all of the orders you are asking for in your claim. This doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to wind up in a trial, but it does mean that, at least for now, the respondent disagrees at least some of the orders you're asking for. One of three things is going to happen in your court proceeding:

1. you'll settle your disagreement out of court, and come up with either a separation agreement or an order that you both agree the court should make, called a consent order.
2. you'll not be able to agree, and the intervention of the court at a trial will be required; or,
3. after some initial scuffles, neither you nor the respondent will take any further steps in the court proceeding and the proceeding will languish.

Hopefully, it'll be the first.

Responding

If a court proceeding has been started against you, you have two choices. You can do nothing or you can respond to the proceeding and defend yourself. If you completely agree with the orders the other party is asking for, doing nothing is the cheapest and quickest way to handle the matter. On the other hand, if you only partly agree or completely disagree you must respond to the claim or you risk losing by default.

If a court proceeding has been started against you in the Supreme Court, you are the respondent in the proceeding. The person who started the court proceeding is the claimant. If you disagree with any of the orders the claimant is asking for, you must prepare a form called a Response to Family Claim in Form F4. If there are any orders you want to ask for, you can prepare a form called a Counterclaim in Form F5. These are special forms required by the Supreme Court Family Rules. (These documents, together with the claimant's Notice of Family Claim and Response to Counterclaim, are called "pleadings.")

The main Supreme Court Family Rules about replying to a Notice of Family Claim, making your claims of your own against the claimant, and the management of court proceedings are:

• Rule 1-1: Definitions
• Rule 3-1: Starting a court proceeding
• Rule 4-3: Responding to a claim
• Rule 4-4: Making a counterclaim
• Rule 5-1: Financial disclosure
• Rule 6-2: Ordinary service
• Rule 7-1: Judicial case conferences
• Part 9: Disclosure and discovery of documents
• Part 10: Interim applications and chambers procedure
• Rule 11-4: Discontinuing a court proceeding and withdrawing a response to one
• Part 13: Expert witnesses
• Rule 11-3: Summary trial procedure
• Rule 14-7: Trial procedure
• Rule 15-2.1: Guardianship orders
• Rule 15-2.2: Corollary relief proceedings and information that must be provided to the court

Links to and examples of the Response to Family Claim, Counterclaim and other court forms can be found in this resource under Supreme Court Forms (Family Law). For a quick introduction to how to reply to a proceeding, see How Do I Respond to a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?. It's located in the Helpful Guides & Common Questions part of this resource.

Quick answers for common questions

The following issues are addressed in the Defending an Action section of the Helpful Guides & Common Questions part of this resource:

• Can't pay your court fees: If you can't afford to pay court fees, you can apply to court to have those fees waived. This used to be called applying for indigent status, but this term is no longer used. To find out more, see How Do I Waive Filing Fees in the Supreme Court?
• Need to change something in your Response to Family Claim or Counterclaim: To find out what happens when you need to change something in your Response to Family Claim or Counterclaim, see How Do I Change Something in My Response to Family Claim or Counterclaim?
• Want to stop the court proceeding: You might want to stop defending the claimant's Notice of Family Claim or withdraw your Counterclaim if, for example, you have reached a settlement. To find out how to do this, see How Do I Stop Defending a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?

Preparing, filing and delivering the Response to Family Claim

If you disagree with any of the orders the claimant is asking for in their Notice of Family Claim, you must file a Response to Family Claim at the court registry within 30 days of being served with the Notice of Family Claim.

The Notice of Family Claim describes the basic history of your relationship and provides an outline of the orders the claimant would like the court to make. Your Response to Family Claim lets you:

1. consent to some or all of the orders the claimant is asking for;
2. object to some or all of the orders the claimant is asking for; and,
3. say which of the facts set out in the Notice of Family Claim are inaccurate.

The form you must use is Form F4, set out in the Supreme Court Family Rules. This is a special form of response used only in family law cases. Your Response to Family Claim must be filed in the same court registry that the Notice of Family Claim was filed in. It currently costs $25 to file a Response to Family Claim.

You must serve the claimant with a copy of your filed Response to Family Claim by ordinary service. When you file any document in Supreme Court, including your Response to Family Claim, the registry will keep the original of the document, so you will want to make and keep at least two additional copies — one for you to keep and one to serve on the claimant. Ordinary service means sending a copy of the filed response to the claimant at any of the addresses for service they provided in their Notice of Family Claim.

Preparing, filing and delivering a Counterclaim

If there are any orders you want to ask for, you may file a Counterclaim at the court registry within 30 days of being served with the Notice of Family Claim. A Counterclaim lets you describe the orders you would like the court to make.

It can be very important to prepare a Counterclaim if you want the court to make an order on different terms, or about different issues, than the orders described in the Notice of Family Claim. Think of it like this. Your Response to Family Claim is your defence to the claims made by the claimant in their Notice of Family Claim. Your Response to Family Claim doesn't ask for anything; it just says what orders you do and don't agree with. Unless a Counterclaim is filed, the only person asking for anything is the claimant. If you are successful in your defence, there may be no claims left for the court to make an order about.

Rule 4-4 of the Supreme Court Family Rules provides information about Counterclaims. The form you must use is Form F5. This is a special form of counterclaim used in family law cases. Additional pages that require more detailed information must be added to the Counterclaim when you are asking for orders about:

1. divorce;
2. the care of children and child support;
3. spousal support;
4. the division of property and debt; and,
5. orders about other subjects, like orders for the protection of people or orders for the change of a person's name.

Your Counterclaim must be filed in the court registry and be served on the claimant by ordinary service. To save a little bit money and time, you'd normally want to serve the claimant with your Response to Family Claim and Counterclaim at the same time. It currently costs $200 to file a Counterclaim.

The applicant's Response to Counterclaim

The claimant has 30 days to complete and file a Response to Counterclaim in Form F6 after being served with your Counterclaim.

Other documents at the outset of your court proceeding

If you are responding to or have made a claim in the Supreme Court about child support, spousal support, or the division of family property, family debt, or pensions, you may be required to file a Financial Statement in Form F8. If you are required to file a Financial Statement as a result of the claims set out in the other party's Notice of Family Claim, you must to do so within 30 days after the Notice of Family Claim was served on you. If you are not required to file a Financial Statement as a result of claims made by the other party, but you are required to do so as a result of claims you have set out in your Counterclaim, you must do so within 30 days after service of your Counterclaim on the other party. See Disclosure and Discovery in Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings for more information.

If you or the other party has made a claim in the Supreme Court under the Divorce Act about child support, spousal support, or parenting, you are required by Rule 15-2.2 of the Supreme Court Family Rules to file a statement of information for corollary relief proceedings in Form F102 before a child support order, spousal support order or parenting order is made.

The next steps

Disagreeing with the orders the claimant has asked for, or asking for orders of your own, doesn't necessarily mean you will wind up in a trial. One of three things is going to happen in your court proceeding:

1. you'll settle your disagreement out of court, and come up with either a separation agreement or an order that you both agree the court should make, called a consent order.
2. you'll not be able to agree, and the intervention of the court at a trial will be required; or,
3. after some initial scuffles, neither you nor the respondent will take any further steps in the court proceeding and the proceeding will languish.

Again, I hope it'll be the first.

Resources and links

Legislation

• Supreme Court Act
• Supreme Court Family Rules
• Court Rules Act
• Supreme Court Act
• Supreme Court Family Rules
• Court Rules Act

Resources

• Supreme Court Family Practice Directions
• Supreme Court Administrative Notices
• Supreme Court Trial Scheduling
• Supreme Court Family Practice Directions
• Supreme Court Administrative Notices
• Supreme Court Trial Scheduling

Links

• Supreme Court website
• Justice Education Society website for BC Supreme Court
• BC Ministry of Attorney General: Parenting After Separation Course
• Legal Aid BC's Family Law in BC website
• Supreme Court website
• Legal Aid BC's Family Law website's information pages:
  • "I've been served with a court form"

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Elizabeth Cameron, 16 January 2024.

JP Boyd on Family Law © John-Paul Boyd and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.