Changes
→The Provincial Family Court
*Rule 18: orders
*Rule 20: general rules about court procedures
*Rule 21: parenting after separation programsprogram
A ''registry'' means a particular courthouse of the Provincial Court.
#Rule 5(4) requires the parties to each meet separately with a family justice counsellor, who may refer the parties to other services or may try to mediate a resolution to the parties' dispute;
#Rule 5(6) says that the parties to a court proceeding cannot meet with a judge until they have met with a family justice counsellor; and,
#Rule 5(8) sets out some exceptions to the rule that may allows allow a party to ask a judge for to be exempted from all or part of the rule.
Registries designated as family justice registries must also apply Rule 21, the Parenting After Separation rule, where the court proceeding involves orders about the care of children or child support. Rule 21 sets out yet more hoops to jump through, however the Parenting After Separation program is a very useful program that you should consider taking whether you're at a registry subject to Rule 21 or not. Here are the highlights of Rule 21:
====Family Case Conferences====
Family Case Conferences are similar in many ways to the Judicial Case Conferences common in the Supreme Court. The big difference between the two is that it is 's not mandatory that an FCC be held before an interim application can be brought. You need not needn't wait for your FCC before you bring on an interim applicationunless a judge tells you that you must.
===Making an Application===
To make an interim application, the Applicant must file a Notice of Motion in the court registry. The Notice of Motion is a standard court form, Form 16, which that comes from the courthouse pre-printed in quadruplicate. The form is simple to complete and has check boxes which can simply be ticked off to indicate the sort of order that you want the court to make. The registry will stamp all of the copies and keep the top sheet. You must then serve the Respondent with his or her copy at least seven dates before the date the application is set to be heard.
The hearing date will usually be fixed according to the court's calendar, as most Provincial Court registries have certain particular days set aside for hearing interim applications in family law cases.
===Defending an Application===
If you have been served with a Notice of Motion, you may answer the application with a Reply in Form 3 if you wish. The Provincial Court does not have a specific form for responding to Notices of Motion, nor do the Rules rules have any particular provision about how Notices of Motion are to be addressed. Most registries will accept a Form 3 Reply, even though that form is the form usually used for responding to Applications to Obtain an Order and Applications to Change an Order rather than to Notices of Motion. There are no rules about when the Applicant be served with a response.
===The Hearing===
On the date set for hearing, show up at court at the appointed time. (Note that Rule 12(4) says that if a Respondent doesn't come to court on the date set for the hearing of an interim application, the court may hear the application in the Respondent's absence and make the order requested by the Applicant.) Let the court clerk know which matter you are involved with and what your name is. When your case is called by the clerk, walk up and take a seat stand to one side of the centre podium.
The judge will ask you to identify yourself and will ask the Applicant what his or her application is all about. Stand whenever the judge is speaking speaks to you. The Applicant will make his or her case, and will have the opportunity to call evidence. Most evidence is given orally, on oath, rather than in Affidavit affidavit format. Affidavits can be used, but for some reason this is rarely the case. Most judges would prefer to have an affidavit, and if you can prepare one, you should. The Respondent will have a chance to challenge the Applicant's witnesses and cross-examine them, or may make an affidavit in reply to the Applicant's affidavit.
Once the Applicant's case is done, the Respondent can may present his or her own case, and call witnesses to give evidence just the way the Applicant did. Likewise, the Applicant will be able to cross-examine the Respondent's witnesses.
A discussion of courtroom protocol is available in the How Do I ? section of this websitechapter.
After the evidence from both sides has been given, the Applicant will have the opportunity to summarize his or her case and argue why he or she the judge should have make the order soughtasked for. The Respondent will be able to reply to this the Applicant's argument, after which the Applicant may have the opportunity to make a reply to the Respondent's reply.
Once argument has finishedeveryone is done, the judge will give his or her judgment on the application. The judge may give his or her decision right away, or may "reserve" judgment until some later time.
===After the Hearing===
While it is usual for there to be a delay between the making of an order and the formal entry of the order, remember that the judge's order is binding on you from the moment it leaves the judge's lips, whether you have a paper copy of the order or not.
==Common Interim Applications==