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→Introduction
==Introduction==
In Canada, we don't litigate with cards up our sleeves. Instead, all of everyone's cards are on the table face up. This may not make a lot of sense right away, partly because of what we see on in American mediamovies and televisions shows, but the point is to cut through the bullshit to give each case the best possible chance of settling without having to go through a trial. If you have a smoking gun that will devastate the other party's case, isn't it better to let everyone know about that as soon as possible so that you can resolve the case quicker and for less money than if you had to go to trial? As Justice Punnett said, in the 2013 Supreme Court case of ''[http://canlii.ca/t/fzqb3 J.D.G. v J.J.V.]'', "the goal of proper disclosure is to enable the parties to resolve their dispute." Justice Fraser was even more blunt, in his 1994 decision in a Supreme Court case called ''[http://canlii.ca/t/1dn7f Cunha v Cunha]'': <blockquote>"Non-disclosure of assets is the cancer of matrimonial property litigation. It discourages settlement or promotes settlements which are inadequate. It increases the time and expense of litigation. The prolonged stress of unnecessary battle may lead weary and drained [parties] simply to give up and walk away with only a share of the assets they know about, taking with them the bitter aftertaste of a reasonably-based suspicion that justice was not done."</blockquote>
In family law, each side to a case has the same interest in finding out what each other's income is, knowing each other's physical and mental health, getting the likely sale price of the family home, and knowing how much money is in everyone's investment and RRSP accounts. The discovery and disclosure process is all about exchanging the information and documents necessary to understand each other's case. Even the court has an interest in making sure that each party understands every other party's case because of the administrative and other costs involved in running trials.
As a result, the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' and the rules of court, particularly the rules of the Supreme Court are chock full of rules intended to speed the discovery and disclosure process, and automate as much disclosure as possible. For example, when someone starts a court proceeding asking for orders about child support, spousal support and the division of property and debt, Rule 5-1(11) requires them to file a Financial Statement in Form F8 within 30 days of filing the Notice of Family Claim. Rule 5-1(13) lets the other side ask for more details if the Financial Statement is vague, and a person filing a Financial Statement is under a continuing obligation to keep the information accurate and up-to-date under Rule 5-1(15). Likewise, Rule 9-1 requires someone who started a court proceeding to serve a List of Documents in Form F20 within 35 days of getting the other side's Response to Family Claim, and they are under a continuing obligation to keep the list accurate and up-to-date. Under Rule 9-1(1)(a), the List of Documents is supposed to list:
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><tt>(i) all documents that are or have been in the party's possession or control and that could, if available, be used by any party at trial to prove or disprove a material fact, and</tt></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><tt>(ii) all other documents to which the party intends to refer at trial</tt></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
And all of this is automatic. The disclosure obligations described in these rules are triggered just because someone has started, or decided to defend, a family law court proceeding. They don't depend on someone making a request.
==The Provincial Court==