File and serve the trial record
You'll need
- Copies of all the required documents (see below)
- Blank paper
- Supreme Court cover page
The trial record is a set of some of the documents that have been filed by the people involved in a case and some of the orders issued by the court in the lead-up to a trial. The person who filed the Notice of Trial must prepare and file the trial record.
Documents to include in the trial record
The trial record is made up of the following documents:
- the Notice of Family Claim (Form F3)
- every Response to Family Claim (Form F4) that's been filed in the case
- every Counterclaim (Form F5) that's been filed in the case
- every Response to Counterclaim (Form F6) that's been filed in the case
- your most current Financial Statement (Form F8)
- the other person's most current Financial Statement (Form F8)
- any order the court has made about the conduct of the trial
- information served by one person on the other under a demand, together with the demand (see Rule 4-6(3) of the Supreme Court Family Rules)
The trial record must also include any other document that the court registrar directs you to include. These directions usually result from orders made at the Trial Management Conference.
Put the trial record together
- Put the documents in chronological order (that is, order them by date). Number each page of each document in the top right-hand corner.
- Make an index. List the name of each document, the date the document was filed, and the page number of the document in the trial record.
- Fill in the fields on the cover page:
- The court file number and the registry
- Your name and the other person's name
- The title "TRIAL RECORD"
- A brief description of what the material is about (for example, "Pleadings and orders in the matter scheduled or a family law trial")
- Contact information for you and the other person or your lawyers, including addresses for service, phone and fax numbers or email addresses that the registry can use to contact you
- The time, date, and place of the trial
- The estimated length of time for the trial
- The name of the person filing the trial record
Make three copies of the record:
- one for the registry,
- one for you, and
- one for the other person.
Put each trial record in a binder or have each one bound. The cover page goes on the outside of each binder (or it can be the cover for each bound copy).
Filing and serving the trial record
File the trial record at least 14 days, but not more than 28 days, before your first day of trial. (It might help to mark this two-week window in your calendar.) Take all three copies of the trial record to the court registry where your trial will be. The registry staff will stamp all three, keep one, and give two back to you.
Immediately after filing the trial record, you must serve one of the copies on the other person. Bring your copy of the trial record with you to trial.