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→Court procedure in a nutshell
Court proceedings in the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court, other than criminal proceedings, work more or less like this:
*'''The claimant starts the proceeding.''' The person who wants a court order, the claimant, starts a court proceeding by filing a claim in court and serving the filed claim on the respondent. The claims says what orders the claimant wants the court to make. <blockquote>*'''The respondent files a reply.''' The respondent has a fixed certain amount of time after being served to respond to the court proceeding by filing a reply in court. The reply says which orders the respondent agrees to and which are objected he or she objects to. The respondent may ask the court for other orders; if other orders are needed, the respondent will file a claim of his or her own, called a counterclaim. The reply and any new claim counterclaim must be delivered to the claimant.</blockquote> <blockquote>*'''The claimant files a reply.''' The claimant has a fixed certain amount of time after being served to respond to any claim made by the respondent by filing a reply in court. The claimant's reply says which orders the claimant agrees to and which are objected he or she objects to. The claimant's reply must be delivered to the respondent.</blockquote> <blockquote>*'''The parties exchange information.''' Next, the parties gather the information and documents they need to explain why they should have the orders they are asking for. Because trials are not run like an ambush, the parties must also exchange their information and documents. This way everyone knows exactly what is going on and how strong each person’s case is.</blockquote> <blockquote>*'''Each party is examined out of court.''' After the documents have been exchanged, in Supreme Court proceedings each party will schedule an examination of the other party. An examination is an opportunity to ask questions about the facts and the issues out of court so that everyone knows the evidence that will be given at the trial. This is also an opportunity to ask for more documents.</blockquote> <blockquote>*'''Go to trial.''' Assuming that settlement isn't possible, the only way to resolve the problem court proceeding is to have a trial. At the trial, each of the parties will present their evidence and explain to the judge why he or she should make the orders asked for. The judge may make a decision resolving the decision on the spot; most often, however, the judge will want to think about the evidence and the parties' arguments and will give a written decision later.</blockquote>
And that's pretty much it.
While working through this process, it is sometimes important to ask for ''interim orders''. These are temporary orders that are meant might be necessary to get a court proceeding through to a trial or to take care of a short-term need. In a case involving a car accident, for example, an interim order might be needed to make someone submit to an examination be checked by a doctor or to make someone produce financial information. In family law cases, people often ask for interim orders to deal with the payment of child support or spousal support, to determine how the children will be cared for, or to protect property or a person.
The process for interim orders is a miniature version of the larger process for getting a claim to trial.
There are lots of details we've skipped over, including details about important things like experts, case conferences, and the rules of evidence, but this about it. These details are governed by each court's set of rules. The rules of court are very important!