Wait and File Your Documents
You'll need to wait for a response
The other person has up to 5 business days from the day you served them with your Notice of Application and Affidavit to serve their Application Response and affidavit. Count 5 business days starting the business day after you served them if you served them on a business day, before 4pm, by email or by leaving it with them. If you served them after 4pm or on a weekend, they are deemed served the next business day. If you served them by mail, then service is not complete until one week after the day you mailed the documents if that day was a business day.
If they agree with your application
If the other person agrees with what you're asking for, you have a couple options. You can go to our step-by-step guide Get an interim family order in Supreme Court if you both agree. This way you will likely avoid going to court. You can also continue on this pathway and turn up in court to ask the judge for a consent order. Or, if the issue is about parenting or support, you can work out a written agreement with the other person that can be filed in court.
If they still don't agree with your application
If the other person doesn't agree with what you're asking for, within five business days of being served with your documents, they must serve on you their:
- an Application Response (Form F32), and
- each Affidavit (Form F30) and any other document they refer to in their Application Response that hasn't already been filed.
File Your Documents
Once the other party has served you with their documents, or once the 5 business days have passed from when you served your documents on them, you can then file them with the Supreme Court registry.
You will need:
- Your Notice of Application (Form F31) (3 copies)
- Your Affidavit (Form F30) (3 copies)
- Any other supporting affidavits you haven't already filed but intend to rely on at the hearing (3 copies)
- A completed the Notice of Hearing of Application (Form F31.1) (3 copies)
- An Affidavit of Ordinary Service (Form F16), which shows you served the other party (2 copies)
It is $80 to file a Notice of Application. Take these documents and the fee to your Supreme Court Registry. A clerk at the registry will take your money, check your documents, stamp them with the court seal, and put the originals into the file for your case.
Notice of Hearing of Application (Form F31.1)
You will need to complete the Notice of Hearing of Application. This form will set the date of the hearing. You must file and serve this form at least 4 business days before the hearing. Make sure you give yourself enough time.
Service - You will set out when you served the other person and when or if they responded.
Date of hearing - You will tick whether you and the other person have agreed on the date of the hearing or whether you will serve this Form F31.1 notifying the other person of the date of the hearing at least 4 business days beforehand. Or whether the application is by consent (agreed), unopposed (the other party will not argue against it) or without notice to the other party. Without notice applications are only allowed in specific circumstances or cases of urgency.
Duration of hearing - this part asks whether the parties agree on how long they estimate the hearing will last.
Jurisdiction - this part asks if your issue can be heard by an associate judge. If you aren’t sure, ask the registry. Associate judges cannot give final orders and have other restrictions.
Orders sought - if you are seeking the same orders as set out in your Notice of Application, set them out here. If you and the other party have agreed on any orders in the meantime, you can set out that those ones are “by consent”.
Serve the Notice of Hearing of Application (Form F31.1)
Once you have filed the Notice of Hearing, serve it on the other person. This will let them know the date of the hearing. As a reminder, you must serve the other party this document at least 4 business days before the date set for hearing.