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Difference between revisions of "Starting and Responding to Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings"
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Starting and Responding to Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings (view source)
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* Make two copies of the Registration of Divorce Proceeding online form and any Certificate of Pending Litigation (Form 33 under the ''Land Title Act''): The original is for the court, one copy is for your records, and the other is to be filed against the respondent's interest in the title of the property. | * Make two copies of the Registration of Divorce Proceeding online form and any Certificate of Pending Litigation (Form 33 under the ''Land Title Act''): The original is for the court, one copy is for your records, and the other is to be filed against the respondent's interest in the title of the property. | ||
===File the documents | ===File the documents on BC Supreme Court=== | ||
Take all the court documents to the BC Supreme Court house location that is closest to where the children reside (if your claim involves children), or to the location that is closest to where you live. | Take all the court documents to the BC Supreme Court house location that is closest to where the children reside (if your claim involves children), or to the location that is closest to where you live. | ||
The BC Supreme Court's website contains a [https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/court_locations_and_contacts.aspx list of court locations and contacts]. Filing is done with the court's ''registry''. | The BC Supreme Court's website contains a [https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/court_locations_and_contacts.aspx list of court locations and contacts]. Filing is done with the court's ''registry''. | ||
Go to the family counter for the BC Supreme Court registry you've chosen (some courthouses have both BC Provincial Court and BC Supreme Court registries in the same building), and give the court staff your court forms. The court staff will ask you to pay the filing fees before they will take your court documents and return the court stamped copies to you. | Go to the family counter for the BC Supreme Court registry you've chosen (some courthouses have both BC Provincial Court and BC Supreme Court registries in the same building), and give the court staff your court forms. The court staff will ask you to pay the filing fees before they will take your court documents and return the court stamped copies to you. | ||
===Court fees=== | ===Court fees=== | ||
| Line 175: | Line 175: | ||
===Make copies=== | ===Make copies=== | ||
After you have completed all the court forms, print them and sign the ones that require your signature. Make the following copies: | After you have completed all the court forms, print them and sign the ones that require your signature. Make the following copies: | ||
* Make two additional copies of the Form F4 Response to Family Claim: The original is filed with the court, and the court staff will stamp the other copies and give them back to you. Keep one for your records, and save one to be served on the claimant (by way of ''ordinary service'', as opposed to ''personal service''). | * Make three (or at least two) additional copies of the Form F4 Response to Family Claim: The original is filed with the court, and the court staff will stamp the other copies and give them back to you. Keep one for your records, and save one to be served on the claimant (by way of ''ordinary service'', as opposed to ''personal service''). The third copy can be used if you are preparing a Form F16 Affidavit of Ordinary Service, which is discussed below in step 8. | ||
* If you are requesting an order for divorce (and if the other side has not), make a copy of the Registration of Divorce Proceeding online form: The original is filed with the court, and one copy is for your records. | * If you are requesting an order for divorce (and if the other side has not), make a copy of the Registration of Divorce Proceeding online form: The original is filed with the court, and one copy is for your records. | ||
* If you are filing a CPL: The original is for the court, one copy is for your records, and the other is to be filed against the claimant's interest in the title of the property. | * If you are filing a CPL: The original is for the court, one copy is for your records, and the other is to be filed against the claimant's interest in the title of the property. | ||
===File the documents in court=== | |||
Your court documents need to be filed in the same BC Supreme Court registry that the claimant's Form F3 Notice of Family Claim was filed in. Check the first page, top right-hand side of claimant's form for the registry location. | |||
Go to the family counter of the registry, and give the court staff your court forms. The court staff will ask you to pay the filing fees, they will keep the original of the court forms, and they will return to you the copies with the court's stamp. | |||
As mentioned in step 2, above, court fees are contained in a schedule in Appendix C of the [https://canlii.ca/t/8mcr Supreme Court Family Rules]. It currently costs $25 to file a Form F4 Response to Family Claim, and $200 to file a counterclaim. The registry charges $40 for filing a CPL (the Land Title Office will charge you additional fees when you file the CPL against the title). | |||
If you can't afford to pay court fees, you can apply to have those fees waived. This used to be called applying for ''indigent status'', but this term is no longer used. See [[How Do I Waive Filing Fees in the Supreme Court?]] under the [[Helpful Guides & Common Questions]] part of this resource. | |||
==Step 8: Respondent serves court documents== | |||
You have to serve a stamped copy of your Form F4 Response to Family Claim and any Form F5 Counterclaim on the claimant. While the claimant will usually have served their forms on you using a process called ''personal service'', because the claimant's forms already contain their address for delivery, you only need to serve your forms by ''ordinary service''. Ordinary service means sending a copy of the filed documents to the address that the claimant provided. | |||
:Note: If you are adding a third party (someone other than the claimant) and naming them as a party in your Form F5 Counterclaim, you need to follow the same steps for ''personal service'' that the claimant took when you end up serving that third party (in which case re-read step 3). | |||
Do this within 30 days from the date that you received the Form F3 Notice of Family Claim, Form F3, unless you got the claimant to agree in writing that you could have more time. | |||
It is good practice, but not necessary, to complete and file a Form F16 Affidavit of Ordinary Service. For more rules on service read Rule 6-6 (1)(e). | |||
You do not need to serve the claimant with the Registration of Divorce Proceedings, or the CPL. | |||
==Step 9: Claimant replies to counterclaim== | |||
If you are the claimant, you have two options once you receive the respondent's Form F5 Counterclaim: | |||
# If you agree with the order that the respondent is requesting, you can choose to do nothing. | |||
# If you you do not agree, you can file a Form F6 Response to Counterclaim. | |||
Of course, doing nothing is the cheapest and fastest option, but it is not suitable unless you actually agree to all of the respondent's requested orders in their Form F5 Counterclaim. If you disagree with any of the orders the respondent is asking for, you must file a Form F6 Response to Counterclaim within 30 days of being served. Failing to do so means you face the risk of the respondent applying for and obtaining orders by ''default''. | |||
If you are going to file a Form F6 Response to Counterclaim, you will need to: | |||
* fill out the form, | |||
* sign the form where indicated, | |||
* make three copies of the signed form, | |||
* take the original and the copies to the same court registry that you filed your Form F3 Notice of Family Claim, | |||
* pay the court fees (or show the registry staff the order waiving fees if you got such an order), and | |||
* deliver a stamped copy of your Form F6 Response to Counterclaim by ordinary service to the respondent's address for service (use the address for service provided in the respondent's Form F5 Counterclaim. | |||
==Step 10: Make sure you complete additional forms== | |||
Pay careful attention, and double check both the Form F3 Notice of Family Claim and any Form F5 Counterclaim to see if either the claimant or respondent has requested orders for: | |||
* child support, | |||
* spousal support, or | |||
* the division of family property, family debt, or pensions. | |||
The claimant, respondent, or both may be required to file financial statements (Form F8 Financial Statement). If you are required to file a financial statement as a result of the orders requested in Form F3 Notice of Family Claim, or Form F5 Counterclaim, you must do so within 30 days of that document (the one that requests such order) being served. | |||
In addition, both the claimant and the respondent will need to prepare their own Form F20 List of Documents, within 30 days of the Form F3 Notice of Family Claim being served. | |||
In their Form F20 List of Documents, each party will need to list any and all documents they have control or access to which are relevant to the orders that are requested in either the Form F3 Notice of Family Claim, or the Form F5 Counterclaim. | |||
See [[Disclosure and Discovery in Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings]] for more information on the Form F8 Financial Statement and the Form 20 List of Documents. | |||
If you have made a claim under the Divorce Act about child support, spousal support, or parenting, you are also required by Rule 15-2.2 of the Supreme Court Family Rules to file a Form 102 Statement of Information for Corollary Relief Proceedings. This form needs to be filed before a child support order, spousal support order, or parenting order is made. | |||
==Step 11: Prepare for next steps== | |||
If the respondent has chosen to file a Form F4 Response to Family Claim, or the claimant has chosen to file a Form F6 Response to Counterclaim, this shows they are opposing some or all of the orders the other party is asking for. | |||
This doesn't necessarily mean the parties will wind up in a trial, but it does mean that, at least for now, the respondent and claimant disagree with at least some of the orders the other part is asking for. | |||
Read the heading on "Introduction to rules promoting settlement", which is in the first section of this chapter on [[Family Law Litigation in Supreme Court]]. It explains the ways you can try to resolve things outside of court. | |||
One of three things will happen in your court action: | |||
# you will settle your disagreements out of court, and come up with either a separation agreement or draft a ''consent order'' containing the orders that you both agree the court should make, | |||
# you will be unable to agree, a trial will be set, and the court will make any final orders it finds appropriate, or | |||
# after some initial scuffles, neither you nor the other side will take any further steps in the court proceeding and the court action will languish. | |||
Hopefully, it'll be the first. If no agreement can be reached, the next step after all of the BC Supreme Court forms that start and respond to the litigation have been filed and served, is most commonly a ''Judicial Case Conference'' (JCC). See "Judicial Case Conferences" in this chapter's section on [[Conferences in Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings]]. | |||
==Quick answers for common questions== | |||
In the headings above you may have noticed references to other information from the [[Helpful Guides & Common Questions]] part of this resource. These include guides for specific topics, some of which are very much related to litigation in BC Supreme Court, such as: | |||
* [[How Do I Start a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Respond to a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Change Something in My Notice of Family Claim?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Change Something in My Response to Family Claim or Counterclaim?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Stop a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Stop Defending a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Waive Filing Fees in the Supreme Court?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Personally Serve Someone with Legal Documents?]] | |||
* [[How Do I Substitutionally Serve Someone with Legal Documents?]] | |||
