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→The choice of forum
===The choice of forum===
''Forum'' means place. In family law matters, choosing the ''choice of forum'' is about choosing which of a court proceeding means making the choice two trial courts to proceed make a claim in either the Provincial Court or the Supreme Court. The Provincial Court has certain limits to its authority and, as a result, has limits on the kinds of claims it can hear. The Supreme Court has the authority to deal with almost every legal issue within British Columbia. It also has something called ''inherent jurisdiction'', meaning that the Supreme Court, unlike the Provincial Court, is not limited to the authority it is given by legislation. It is safe to say that, as far as family matters are concerned, the Supreme Court can deal with everything the Provincial Court can, as well as everything it can't.
Other things to think about when making the choice of forum are complexity and cost. The process of each court is guided by each court's set of rules. The [http://canlii.ca/t/8mcr Supreme Court Family Rules] offer a much wider variety of tools and remedies than the [http://canlii.ca/t/85pb Provincial Court Family Rules], particularly in terms of but the information and documents each side can make the other produce in the course rules of a proceeding. For example, the Supreme Court rules allow a party to make the other party submit to an examination for discovery, or make a company or third party produce records. These disclosure mechanisms are not available in the Provincial Court. You may want to think about the relative complexity of the two courts' sets of rulesmuch, particularly if you plan to represent yourself and not hire a lawyer. The Provincial Court's rules are written in plain language and are fairly straightforward. The Supreme Court Family Rules are much more complicated and aren't written in than the most easy to understand language. Finally, you may also want to think about rules of the cost of proceeding in each courtProvincial Court. The Provincial Court charges no filing fees and has a relatively streamlined procedure. The Supreme Court charges filing fees, and the extra tools and remedies available under the Supreme Court Family Rules are helpful but <span class="noglossary">will</span> add to the cost of bringing a proceeding to trial.
This chart shows which level of court can deal with which issue: