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{{JP Boyd on Family Law How Do I TOC|expanded=defending}}
While the new Provincial Court Family Rules and its forms no longer call one party the ''applicant'' and the other party the ''respondent'', these terms are still used around the courthouse and in published reasons for judgment. Once you have been served with the applicantother party's Form 3 ''Application to About a Family Law Matter'', that person becomes the applicant, and you become the respondent. You have 30 days to file a form called a Form 6 ''Reply to an Application About a Family Law Matter''. The Form 6 Reply to an Application About a Family Law Matter is available at provincial court registries or online. A copy may have been delivered to you with the Application About a Family Law Matter.
You have 30 days to file your Form 6 Reply to an Application About a Family Law Matter from the date ''you were served'', not 30 days from the date the Form 3 Application About a Family Law Matter was ''filed in court''.
When you fill out your Form 6 Reply to an Application About a Family Law Matter, you <span class="noglossary">will</span> be asked to indicate which parts of the Form 3 Application About a Family Law Matter you agree with and which you disagree with. The form can also be used to make a claim of your own against the applicant, this is called a ''counter application'' and can be made by ticking the box at the top right-hand corner of the first page of the Form 6 Reply to an Application About a Family Law Matter. You If you are the respondent don't need to file a Form 3 Application About a Family Law Matter of your own.
After you have filed your Form 6 Reply to an Application About a Family Law Matter, the court may schedule a date for you to meet with a family justice counsellor and you may be required to attend a Parenting After Separation course or Parenting After Separation for Indigenous Families course, depending on which registry the application was filed in. The registry <span class="noglossary">will</span> take care of scheduling your meeting with the family justice counsellor, but it's up to you to arrange for the Parenting After Separation course or Parenting After Separation for Indigenous Families course.