How Do I Waive Filing Fees in the Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court registry usually charges fees for a whole host of common court activities, such as for filing court forms, making applications to a judge or associate judge, and for hearings that go longer than 3 days. Some of these fees can be quite high and become a barrier to someone seeking access to the justice system. These fees are set out in Appendix C of the Supreme Court Family Rules.

Rule 20-5 allows the court to waive all or some of these fees for all or part of a court proceeding if the court is satisfied that you cannot afford them. You must make an application for a finding that you cannot afford the filing fees. This used to be called "applying for indigent status" or "applying for impoverished status."

Since 2015, after an important Supreme Court of Canada case that challenged the old rule requiring people to be on welfare and totally impoverished before getting an order to waive fees, the court no longer uses the term indigent or impoverished to refer to people who apply to waive fees. Rule 20-5 of the Supreme Court Family Rules now refers to persons who are not required to pay fees, and this can be anyone receiving income or disability assistance, or anyone who cannot pay the court fees without undue hardship. You don’t need to be impoverished to claim undue hardship in this context. If you can show that you would have to sacrifice other reasonable expenses in your life in order to pay the court fees, then you can probably succeed in an application to waive fees. A judge who grants an order to waive fees can waive them broadly for the whole of the proceeding, for a limited period of time, or for specific steps or parts of the family law case.

Making the application

Most people apply to waive filing fees at the same time that they're filing their Notice of Family Claim, or a Response to Family Claim or Counterclaim. The point, of course, is to avoid the fees that you'd normally pay to file these documents. You can also apply in the middle of a court proceeding if you need to.

The court registry will have blanks of the forms you need to fill out, and the BC Supreme Court website also offers a downloadable collection of the forms you need. You'll need a Requisition in Form F17, a draft of the proposed order you seek in Form F85, and an Affidavit in Form F86. The Affidavit will require you to describe the amount and sources of your income, your monthly expenses, your job skills, and your education.

If you file your materials before 10:00am, the registry may send you before a judge that morning, otherwise you may have to wait for the next day chambers is held. You do not have to give notice to the other side of your intention to make this application, and no fees are charged to apply to waive fees.

When your application is called, using the evidence set out in your affidavit, you'll have to explain to the associate judge or judge why it is that you can't afford the court fees. Living on income or disability assistance, Employment Insurance (EI), Old Age Security, or CPP benefits is usually enough. It will be helpful if you can provide copies of your income assistance statements, EI statements, or other evidence to prove your income. Documents you rely on in court should be attached to your affidavit as exhibits.

You may want to look at the case of case of Ma v. Zhao, 2019 BCCA 248 to understand how the courts are beginning to treat applications to waive fees. Here is what the Court of Appeal said:

"The application judge or associate judge is not required to accept the appellant’s financial information at face value. However, if the financial information can reasonably be interpreted as supporting the proposition that the appellant cannot afford to pay court fees without foregoing reasonable expenses, some explanation for rejecting such evidence would be necessary in light of the constitutional dimension of this issue."

If the court allows your application, you can then go back to the registry and file your pleadings — and any future materials set out in the order you obtained — free of charge. An Order to Waive Fees only covers the fees set out in Appendix C of the Supreme Court Family Rules, however. If you need transcripts, for example, those must still be paid for.

If the court doesn't allow your application, well, you'll have to pay and that's that.

Exceptions to the rule

It is important to know that the court will also look to the merits of the case when deciding whether to grant or refuse applications to waive fees. Being unable to pay fees without undue hardship is not the only consideration. Rule 20-5(1) sets out three specific grounds for the court to refuse your application:

• if your claim is unreasonable, or if your defence to the claimant's claim is unreasonable,
• if your claim is "scandalous, frivolous, or vexatious," or
• if your claim or your defence is, for any other reason, an "abuse of the process of the court."

In other words, if you're one of those people who sues the King, the Prime Minister, the Premier, and the Attorney General or sues their neighbour every time they play their music too loudly, you can expect that your application to waive fees will be turfed. If your claim is legitimate and well-founded, and you meet the general criteria for Rule 20-5, you are well positioned to get the order to waive fees.

For more information

You can find more information about Supreme Court procedure for waiving fees in Legal Aid BC’s Get an Order to Waive Fees guide. Courthouse Libraries BC also has an What is impoverished status? information page on waiving court fees.

This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Mark Norton, September 14, 2023.

JP Boyd on Family Law © John-Paul Boyd and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.

Normally referred to as the "Supreme Court of British Columbia," this court hears most of the trials in this province. The Supreme Court is a court of inherent jurisdiction and has no limits on the sorts of claims it can hear or on the sorts of orders it can make. Decisions of the Provincial Court are appealed to the Supreme Court; decisions of the Supreme Court are appealed to the Court of Appeal. See "Court of Appeal," "jurisdiction," "Provincial Court" and "Supreme Court of Canada."

A court established and staffed by the provincial government, which includes Small Claims Court, Youth Court, and Family Court. The Provincial Court is the lowest level of court in British Columbia and is restricted in the sorts of matters it can deal with. It is, however, the most accessible of the two trial courts and no fees are charged to begin or defend a family law proceeding. The Family Court of the Provincial Court cannot deal with the division of family property or any claims under the Divorce Act. See "Divorce Act," "judge" and "jurisdiction."

(1) A central office, located in each judicial district, at which the court files for each court proceeding in that district are maintained, and at which legal documents can be filed, searched, and reviewed, or (2) a courthouse.

A person appointed by the federal or provincial government to manage and decide court proceedings in an impartial manner, independent of influence by the parties, the government, or agents of the government. The decisions of a judge are binding upon the parties to the proceeding, subject to appeal.

A provincially-appointed judicial official of the BC Supreme Court with limited jurisdiction, usually charged with making interim decisions before final judgment in a court proceeding, and certain decisions after final judgment, including the assessment of lawyers' bills and the settling of bills of cost. Until January 2024, associate judges were referred to as masters. See "interim application," "judge" and "jurisdiction."

To give up a right or entitlement, or the opportunity to assert a right or enforce an entitlement. See "release."

A legal proceeding in which one party sues another for a specific remedy or relief, also called an "action," a "lawsuit," or a "case." A court proceeding for divorce, for example, is a proceeding in which the claimant sues the respondent for the relief of a divorce order.

Being impoverished. Persons with limited or no income used to apply to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal for indigent status, which exempted them from paying the usual court fees for all or a part of a court proceeding. Thankfully, the terms indigent or impoverished are no longer used in such applications. The Rules for both the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal now refer to applications to waive fees.

The highest level of court in Canada. This court hears appeals from the decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and the provincial courts of appeal, including the Court of Appeal for British Columbia. There is no court to appeal to beyond this court. See "Court of Appeal" and "Supreme Court."

A mandatory direction of the court that is binding and enforceable upon the parties to a court proceeding. An "interim order" is a temporary order made following the hearing of an interim application. A "final order" is a permanent order, made following the trial of the court proceeding or the parties' settlement, following which the only recourse open to a dissatisfied party is to appeal. Failing to abide by the terms of an order may constitute contempt of court. See "appeal," "consent order," "contempt of court," "decision" and "declaration."

In law, a legal incapacity to do certain things, like enter into a contract or start a court proceeding. Legal disabilities include insanity and being under the age of majority. See "age of majority."

In the context of family law, this phrase comes up in Child Support Guidelines as well as applications to waive court fees. The term "undue" essentially means excessive, exceptional, or disproportionate. for example, if someone would have to sacrifice a reasonable expense in their life in order to pay the amount in question, this would be an undue hardship. In the Child Support Guidelines this term describes circumstances when payment of the table amount of child support would cause financial difficulty for either the payor or the recipient of support, potentially justifying an award of support in an amount different than the table amount. See "child support," "Child Support Guidelines" and "table amount."

(1) The assertion of a legal right to an order or to a thing; (2) the remedy or relief sought by a party to a court proceeding.

In law, (1) the whole of the conduct of a court proceeding, from beginning to end, and the steps in between, may also be used to refer to (2) a specific hearing or trial. See "action."

(1) In law, a court proceeding; a lawsuit; an action; a cause of action; a claim. (2) A historic decision of the court; case law. See "action," "case law, " "court proceeding," and "precedent."

A request to the court that it make a specific order, usually on an interim or temporary basis, also called a "chambers application" or a "motion." See also "interim application" and "relief."

A legal document required by the Supreme Court Family Rules to begin a court proceeding, setting out the relief claimed by the claimant and the grounds on which that relief is claimed. See "action," "claim," "claimant," "pleadings" and "relief."

A legal document required by the Supreme Court Family Rules in which the respondent to a court proceeding sets out their reply to the claimant's claim and the grounds for their reply. See "action," claim," "Notice of Family Claim" and "pleadings."

A central office, located in each judicial district, at which the court files for each court proceeding in that district are maintained, and at which legal documents can be filed, searched and reviewed.

(1) A preliminary version of a document, (2) an order prepared following judgment and submitted to the court for its approval, or (3) to prepare, or draw, a legal document.

A type of hearing in the BC Supreme Court, where a judge or an associate judge hears applications. Unlike trials, evidence is presented through affidavits instead of live witnesses, the proceedings are less formal (no one wears robes), and the result is often an interim order instead of a final order. Chambers can address procedural issues, but also interim orders dealing with parenting or support concerns, or other issues that come up before a family law trial is held.

Facts, or proof tending to support the existence of facts, presented to a judge at a hearing or trial. Evidence can be given through the oral testimony of witnesses, in writing as business records and other documents, or in the form of physical objects. Evidence must be admissible according to the rules of court and the rules of evidence. See "circumstantial evidence," "hearsay" and "testimony."

A legal document in which a person provides evidence of certain facts and events in writing. The person making the affidavit, the deponent, must confirm that the statements made in the affidavit are true by oath or affirmation. Affidavits must be signed in front of a lawyer, a notary public or a commissioner for taking oaths, who takes the oath or affirmation of the deponent. Affidavits are used as evidence, just as if the person making the affidavit had made the statements as a witness at trial. See "deponent", "affirm," "oath" and "witness."

The highest level of court in the province, having the jurisdiction to review decisions of the Supreme Court, all provincial lower courts, and certain tribunals. See "appeal."

The party who brings an appeal of a lower court's decision. See also "appeal" and "respondent."

(1) A reply, a rebuttal, an answer to a court proceeding or an application, or (2) a statement as to why a particular claim or application should not succeed.

The person who starts a court proceeding seeking an order for a specific remedy or relief against another person, the respondent. See "action" and "respondent."