03 June 2011

New Amendments to the New Rules

An Order in Council (PDF) came into effect on 26 May 2011 amending the published version of the Supreme Court Family Rules and the forms prescribed by the rules. The rules and forms, as amended, will be in force on 1 July 2011. The changes to the rules are mostly fairly minor:
  1. Rule 7-1: The JCC rule is amended to provide that the tape recording of a JCC may not be accessed except by court order.
  2. Rule 14-5: The rule which requires a trial to be removed from the trial list if Trial Certificates are not filed is amended to give the court some discretion in the matter.
  3. Rule 17-1: The rule on petition proceedings is amended to tie the deadline for replying to a Petition to the place the petition respondent was served rather than the place where the petition respondent resides, and to tidy up the language about petition respondents' right to seek directions on adjourned hearings.
  4. Rule 18-3: The rule about appeals brought from the provincial court is amended to tie the deadline for replying to a Notice of Appeal to the place the respondent was served rather than the place where the respondent resides.
  5. Rule 20-5: The rule on applications for indigency status is amended to remove the option of filing proof of receipt of welfare benefits and require applicants to file an affidavit in Form F86.
The changes to the forms are similarly minor, but there are a lot more of them. The following forms have been amended:
  1. F3 - Notice of Family Claim (Schedule 1)
  2. F5 - Counterclaim (Schedule 1)
  3. F15 - Affidavit of Personal Service
  4. F36 - Certificate of Pleadings
  5. F37 - Child Support Affidavit for desk order divorce
  6. F38 - Affidavit for desk order divorce
  7. F44 - Notice of Trial
  8. F45 - Trial Brief
  9. F54 - Restraining Order
  10. F58 - Writ of Sequestration
  11. F59 - Writ of Possession
  12. F60 - Writ of Delivery
  13. F61 - Writ of Delivery or Assessed Value
  14. F73 - Petition
  15. F79 and F80 - Notice of Appeal
  16. F86 - Affidavit in Support of Indigent Application
  17. F95 - Fax Cover Sheet
  18. F100 - Certificate of Mediation
For more information on the Supreme Court Family Rules, see the New Rules 101 chapter of my website or click on the "court rules" label below.

Update: 18 June 2011

I have now updated the court form templates available on my website to reflect the changes required by the new Order in Council.
  • Templates for the most commonly used court forms in family law matters are available in the chapter Resources & Links > The Courts, in the discussion of the Supreme Court.
These templates are published in Word format.
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