(LSSP)Schedule your trial

Schedule your trial

You'll need

To set a a trial date, you must file and serve a Notice of Trial (Form F44). The person who filed the Notice of Family Claim (the claimant) also completes and files the Notice of Trial (unless the court orders someone else to do it). The claimant must also serve the Notice of Trial on the other person immediately after filing it.

Find your trial date

Before you can file a Notice of Trial, you need to know what date to put on it.

If you've had a Judicial Case Conference, a judge might have given you dates for your trial.

If you haven't had a Judicial Case Conference, or you had one but didn't get any trial dates, go to the court registry where you filed the Notice of Family Claim and talk to the trial coordinator.

Estimate the length of your trial

How long you have to wait for your trial varies from registry to registry. It will also depend on how many days your trial will take. Before you contact the trial coordinator, estimate how long you think the trial will be. This way, they can find a suitable block of time for you. Consider things such as:

  • How many witnesses will testify for you?
  • How long will it take you to present your evidence?
  • How long will it take you to sum up your case for the judge?
  • How long will it take you to make arguments about the law that applies to your case?
  • How much time will the other person need for their witnesses and case presentation?

You might find it hard to estimate how long your trial will take. Consult with the other person. If they have a lawyer, their lawyer might be able to come up with a reasonable estimate.

In many locations, the first available trial dates are 12 to 18 months in the future. Often, people or their lawyers book trial dates early in the case, before they know for sure if they'll need a trial. Up to 95 percent of cases settle before they go to trial.

Set your trial dates

Once you have an estimate of your trial's length, contact the trial coordinator at the court registry where you filed your Notice of Family Claim. Ask the trial coordinator how to go about scheduling the trial, as scheduling is not done exactly the same way in every court. Tell them your estimated trial length. Ask when the earliest available trial dates are so you know what times are available to you.

Look at your own schedule and think about how long it will take you to be prepared for trial. Then, select three or four dates that will work for you. Speak with the other person to make sure they (and their lawyer, if they have one) are available on the dates you'd like to propose to the trial coordinator.

If you schedule the trial without speaking with the other person and they're not available, they'll probably be able to get the judge to adjourn (postpone) the trial. You'll have to wait even longer for your trial to start. The other person has 21 days to apply for an adjournment.

Once you've agreed on a few possible dates, go to the court registry and talk to the trial coordinator. Tell them which dates you and the other person have available that match up with the dates the court has available. The trial coordinator will then reserve your trial dates. File the Notice of Trial within 30 days of the trial date being reserved. If the date changes, you'll need to file and serve a new Notice of Trial.

Updated on 21 May 2019