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*The BC Supreme Court deserves credit for implementing specific family rules in 2010, along with special forms specifically for family law matters. While still more complicated than Provincial Court procedures, the forms are now closer to a "fill in the blanks" approach. The Supreme Court also expanded its use of ''conferences'' (there are several versions of these, but they are all generally more informal opportunities for the parties to meet with a judge who can often work out a settlement to some of the issues in dispute, and in some cases full settlement). Anyone can schedule a judicial case conference (JCC) at any time, and in 2023 the Court introduced a new Case Planning Conference process to give parties greater access to a judge who can help streamline and simplify litigation.
*For its part, the BC Provincial Court has been very active, experimenting with an ongoing and vast redesign of its approach to handling family law cases. The ''early resolution'' process at some registries (where they are testing a new approach) has involved a major redesign of the court experience. And the new Provincial Court Family Rules and forms were launched in 2021. These are focused on the experience of participants, and not just the needs of the court, and aim to change how court appearances work to ensure people see results, and to make each court appearance have a more meaningful outcome. This court has explicitly embraced the recommendations of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters. For those whose goal is to keep a family law resource like this wikibook up-to-date, it has been hard to keep up with the Provincial Court in fact!
*Both courts deserve credit for their efforts towards ensuring transparency by explaining the specific legal wording common in family law orders that they issue:
** [https://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/resource/4130 Provincial Court's Family Law Orders Picklist]
**[https://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/resource/4085 Supreme Court's Family Law Orders Picklist]
*The courts and the judges that lead them are also working more in conjunction with other policy leaders to make high level plans for change. An initiative called the [https://transformfamilyjusticebc.ca/about/ Transform the Family Justice System (TFJS) Collaborative], led by Access to Justice BC (itself is a collaboration among leaders from basically all the province's justice-related organizations), was launched in 2022 with the aim of transforming the family justice system in BC by focusing it on achieving family well-being. This represents a shift to focus on better outcomes for children of separated parents.
*The pandemic all but forced the courts to embrace video conferencing and other remote methods for attendance. For many people, this is clearly an improvement for access to justice. Changes to both courts' rules and forms have also acknowledged that exchanging court materials by email is routine, and should be the default.