The Supreme Court has the ability to make "costs orders" under [https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/laws/regu/bc-reg-169-2009/latest/bc-reg-169-2009.html?autocompleteStr=supreme%20court%20family%20&autocompletePos=1#Part_16_Costs_521146 sec16_1 Rule 16-1] of the [http://canlii.ca/t/8mcr rules of court] used in family law disputes. An award of ''costs'' is a requirement that one side to a court proceeding pay to the other side a sum of money that compensates the other side for the time and money they had to put into the court proceeding. In general, the successful side is entitled to have their costs paid by the other side, and an award of ''ordinary costs'' usually works out to somewhere between a third and half of the money the successful side spent defending or prosecuting their case. An award of ''special costs'', however, is a lot closer to the total amount the successful side spent on their case.