In British Columbia, ''Divorce Act'' orders are enforced by the Supreme Court under the [https://canlii.ca/t/8mcr Supreme Court Family Rules], the common-law rules about contempt of court, and the special rules that apply to contempt applications. A "contempt application" is an application for an order that someone be found "in contempt of court" because they have intentionally breached a court order, either by not doing something that the order requires them to do or by doing something that the order says they must not do. If the court decides that someone is in contempt of court, it can also decide to punish that person by, for example, ordering that they pay a fine, or spend time in jail and do community service.See the section about contempt in the [Enforcing_Orders_in_Family_Matters|Enforcing Orders] section of the

The Supreme Court decision in the 2012 case of [https://canlii.ca/t/fwd2h Neufeld v Nesbitt] summarizes the principles governing contempt application described by the Court of Appeal in an earlier decision, [https://canlii.ca/t/fwd2h Larkin v Glase], from 2009: <blockquote>[20] The case of Larkin v. Glase, 2009 BCCA 321, sets out the following principles of contempt of court:* A court order must be obeyed until and unless it is reversed. Refusal to obey court orders strikes at the heart of the rule of law, at the core of the organization of our society. If court orders can be disregarded with impunity, no one will be safe. Our free society cannot be sustained if citizens can decide individually what laws to obey and what laws to disregard.* Contempt of court is an issue between a party and the court. It is not concerned with the merits of the dispute between parties to litigation.* A finding of contempt of court "transcends the dispute between the parties; it is one that strikes at the very heart of the administration of justice."*To knowingly breach a court order is to commit a contempt of the court. All that is necessary to establish the contempt is proof of deliberate conduct that has the effect of contravening the order; an intent to bring the Court into disrepute or to interfere with the due course of justice or with the lawful process of the Court is not an essential element of civil contempt.*The primary objective of the civil law sanction for contempt is to secure compliance with the courts' orders rather than punishment.*Deterrence and rehabilitation are factors relevant to securing compliance with court orders.*Generally incarceration is reserved for the more serious contempt of court.*It must always be borne in mind that the sanction of imprisonment is a power that ought to be used sparingly.*When imprisonment is imposed, the term imposed should be the least amount of time possible in the circumstances of the offender and the nature of the contempt.</blockquote> The people found to be in contempt of court in the Neufeld and Larkin cases were sent to jail, and both of these cases involved family law issues. However, the actions of these people were very serious; the court rarely sends people to jail for contempt. The court's primary goal is to get someone who has breached an order to comply with the order. Most of the time, the court will give someone the opportunity to "cure" their contempt by complying with the order before punishing them, or instead give them a warning that future breaches of the order will be dealt with more severely.