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Difference between revisions of "Family Law Trials in Provincial Court"
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{{JP Boyd on Family Law TOC|expanded = incourt}}{{JPBOFL Editor Badge | {{JP Boyd on Family Law TOC|expanded = incourt}}{{JPBOFL Editor Badge | ||
| | |CoAuthor = [[Kendra Marks]] | ||
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Any of these reports must be filed and served on each party at least 30 days before the trial. | Any of these reports must be filed and served on each party at least 30 days before the trial. | ||
Because these reports take time to complete — and because you may have to | Because these reports take time to complete — and because you may have to apply to the court to get an order for one — you should consider starting this process as early as possible. | ||
While a report writer's recommendations are not binding on the court, these recommendations | While a report writer's recommendations (if applicable keeping in mind that not all reports contain recommendations) are not binding on the court, these recommendations are often very persuasive at trial. They can also assist in moving settlement discussions forward for this same reason. | ||
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Because expert reports have to be served on the other party at least 60 days before the trial date and can be expensive, it is important to consider early on in your case whether you will need expert evidence at trial. In addition, because there are specific requirements about the use of expert evidence and the form it must take, if you think you might need an expert, this would be a good issue to talk to a lawyer about. The lawyer would likely also be able to help you with choosing an expert and preparing the instructions to the expert. | Because expert reports have to be served on the other party at least 60 days before the trial date and can be expensive, it is important to consider early on in your case whether you will need expert evidence at trial. In addition, because there are specific requirements about the use of expert evidence and the form it must take, if you think you might need an expert, this would be a good issue to talk to a lawyer about. The lawyer would likely also be able to help you with choosing an expert and preparing the instructions to the expert. | ||
===Request additional disclosure=== | |||
If you need additional information from the other party, such as financial documents, you should request those as early as possible so that the other party has time to provide them. If the other party refuses, you can apply to court for an order requiring that the documents be provided. | |||
A judge will decide whether the documents should be provided, as they need to be relevant to an issue at trial. In order to apply for additional disclosure, you can use the Form 10 Application About a Case Management Order. See [[Interim Applications and Provincial Court Family Law Proceedings]] section for more information about applications for ''case management orders''. It’s best to start this process as early as possible once you have your trial date so that each side has plenty of time to produce and review documents. | |||
=== Attend a trial preparation conference (TPC) === | === Attend a trial preparation conference (TPC) === | ||
Parties heading to trial are usually required to attend a trial preparation conference | Parties heading to trial are usually required to attend a trial preparation conference. If a party has a lawyer, that lawyer can attend instead, so long as the party is available by telephone to speak with their lawyer if instructions are needed during the TPC. The TPC is a short court hearing with a judge to discuss how the trial will proceed and what, if any, additional steps must be taken to ready the parties for trial. | ||
There is no specific time frame for scheduling a | There is no specific time frame for scheduling a TPC nor are they mandatory, although judges will usually schedule one if at least one party is self-represented. Usually TPCs are held about 30-60 days before a trial, but they can be held at any time and you can have more than one. | ||
There is no specific rule as to what parties need to bring to the | There is no specific rule as to what parties need to bring to the TPC, but as a party you should: | ||
*prepare a summary of the issues and your position about each issue, and | *prepare a summary of the issues and your position about each issue, and | ||
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**the witnesses (names and contact information) you intend to call at trial, and a time estimate for each witness’ testimony. | **the witnesses (names and contact information) you intend to call at trial, and a time estimate for each witness’ testimony. | ||
At the | At the TPC, a judge can do any of the things mentioned in Rule 112, including giving directions about time and date, procedure, evidence, how views of a child will be heard, expert witnesses, exchange and inspection of documents, or any other direction that would expedite the trial. If you want to request that one is held, you can apply for one using the Form 10 Application About a Case Management Order. Again, see the [[Interim Applications and Provincial Court Family Law Proceedings]] section of this chapter. | ||
If you are attending a TPC, you ''must'' fill out, file and serve on the other party a Form 22 Trial Readiness Statement at least 7 days before the TPC. | |||
== Preparing evidence for trial == | == Preparing evidence for trial == | ||
