Introduction
About this guide
This step-by-step guide is for people who want to apply for final family orders related to parenting or support.
This guide is also for people who can agree on some issues but not on others. For example, you may agree on how to share parenting time, but not on how much spousal or child support should be paid.
Do we have to go to court?
A Provincial Court application can take a long time and be expensive and stressful. Before you apply for a court order, consider other options for settling your differences.
If you can agree on some or all of your issues, you can have those issues form part of a consent order.
A judge can decide on the issues that you don't agree on at a trial. But the judge doesn't have to make all the decisions — it's common for people to be able to agree on everything except one or two issues before going to court.
For more information, see:
If you and the other person can't agree and none of the options for staying out of court will work for you, you'll have to go through the court process.
Where do I go and how long will it take to apply?
Applications for final family orders in Provincial Court are made to a judge in the Provincial Court of British Columbia (Family Court).
After you file your application at the court registry and have it served on the other person, you don't go straight to a trial. The first step is usually a first appearance. Depending on where your court is located, you may need to meet some court requirements to get a first appearance date.
Around four weeks is a typical waiting time for a first appearance in front of a judge. This can vary by location of the Provincial Court.
You may have other court appearances after that. Usually you also attend a Family Case Conference before a trial is held. A trial or hearing date can take many months to arrange. If a trial is going to take more than one day because there are many witnesses, it's common for the trial date to be more than six months after the court appearance to set the date.
At any stage of the proceedings — even during a trial — you can make an agreement and have a judge make a consent order covering what you've agreed.
What the law says about parenting, support, and property when you separate
For more information, see:
Get legal help
It's a good idea to get some legal help before you use this guide. If you can't afford a lawyer, you can get legal help in other ways, including:
- Lawyer Referral Service
- free (pro bono) legal clinics
- family duty counsel
- family advice lawyers
- family justice counsellors
Staff at Justice Access Centres in Abbotsford, Nanaimo, Surrey, Victoria, and Vancouver can also answer your questions and help you fill out forms.
For information about legal aid, see the Legal Aid BC website.