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→Court processes
All court processes start and end more or less the same way. You must file a particular form in court and serve the filed document on the other party. After being served, the other party has a certain number of days to file a reply. If the other party replies, there is a hearing. If the other party doesn't reply and you can prove that they were served, you can ask for a judgment in default. That's about it in a nutshell.
In the Provincial Court, you can start a court proceeding by filing an ''Application to Obtain an OrderAbout a Family Law Matter''in Form 3. The other party has 30 days after being served to file a Reply to an ''ReplyApplication About a Family Law Matter''in Form 6.
In the Supreme Court, court proceedings are usually started by filing a ''Notice of Family Claim'', and sometimes by filing a ''Petition''. A person served with a Notice of Family Claim has 30 days to file a ''Response to Family Claim'' and possibly a ''Counterclaim'', a claim against the person who started the court proceeding. A person served with a Petition has 21 days to file a ''Response to Petition'', if served in Canada, 35 days if served in the United States of America, and 49 days if served anywhere else.
In family law disputes, things rarely go from starting the proceeding straight to trial. Along the way you will likely have to:
#attend a ''judicial case conference'', if you're in the Supreme Court, or a ''family case management conference'', if you're in the Provincial Court,
#make or reply to one or more ''interim applications'',
#''produce financial documents and other documents'' that are relevant to the claims in the dispute, and
#attend an ''examination for discovery'', if you're in the Supreme Court.
If either party is unhappy with the result of a trial and can show that the judge made a <span class="noglossary">mistake</span>, that person can appeal the final order to another court. Orders of the Provincial Court are appealed to the Supreme Court, and orders of the a Supreme Court judge are appealed to the Court of Appeal.
You start an appeal by filing a ''Notice of Appeal'', or, depending on the circumstances, a ''Notice of Application for Leave to Appeal'', and serving the filed document on the other party, usually within 30 days of the date of the final order. The other party has a certain amount of time to file a ''Notice of Appearance'' in the Court of Appeal, or a ''Notice of Interest'' for appeals from the Provincial Court to the Supreme Court.