Review the application and prepare to respond
You'll need:
- the applicant's completed Application to Obtain an Order (Form 1)
- their completed Financial Statement (Form 4), if they had to fill one out
- a blank Reply (Form 3)
- a blank Financial Statement (Form 4)
If you don't receive copies of the forms you need or if you prefer to fill them out online, you can download them from the links above. The forms include instructions for filling them out. You can also get free printed forms from the Family Court Registry where you live.
Review the Application and list the issues
- Read the Application carefully to see what the other person has asked for.
- Consider whether you can agree with any of the requests in the application or if you have further requests of your own to make.
- Make a list of the issues you want to address in the Reply (Form 3). These will fall into several categories.
- parenting, including:
- guardianship,
- parenting arrangements, and
- contact with a child,
- child support; and
- spousal support.
- parenting, including:
The other person may mention some or all of these issues in the application. They may also have left out issues that are important to you. Decide which of these issues apply to your situation when you make your list.
Sort your list of the issues into
- issues mentioned in the other person's application, and
- issues you need to raise.
Consider how detailed the court order needs to be
Some things to think about
- Can you talk to the other person directly every week to arrange flexible parenting arrangements? Or is it so difficult to talk that you need to have the days and times set out in advance?
- Does the other person share your views about being on time for pick-up and drop-off times? Does the other person phone if he or she will be late?
- Does the other person let you know if a visit needs to be cancelled?
- Is the other person flexible in an emergency?
If you can communicate fairly well with the other person, you can probably ask for, or agree with, a less detailed court order that doesn't include the day and time of pick-up and drop-off. Instead, you and the other person can talk about these things on an ongoing basis.
If communication is fairly tense, you may want your Reply (Form 3) or agreement to be more specific about days and times for parenting arrangements.
Updated on 1 May 2019