Support — spousal

What is court harassment?

Court-related abuse and harassment happens when one party in a family law action uses the legal system or repeated or ongoing legal actions to harass and abuse the other party. See our fact sheet What if your ex is harassing you through the courts? for a detailed description of this type of harassment. If you're financially eligible, you may qualify for legal representation (a lawyer paid by legal aid) because of these or similar instances of court-related harassment. For more information about legal representation, see the legal aid Serious family problems and How to apply for legal aid pages.

What are costs?

I'm representing myself and I've found there are terms that I can't find a clear and concise definition of. For example, costs. This is a minefield for the lay person! What costs? The costs of appearing in court? The costs paid to the lawyer to date? If it's a total of all legal costs, then how is it broken down?

In the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal, "costs" refers to a court order that says that the losing party in a lawsuit must pay the legal expenses of the successful party. See our fact sheet about costs for more detailed information about how costs are calculated.

How do I serve Provincial or Supreme Court documents on my spouse if I don't know where he or she lives?

If you don't have an address for your separated spouse, you need to try and locate him or her. See the resources on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource (scroll down to "Starting an Action" and read the section called "find my ex?").

How do I serve Provincial or Supreme Court documents on my spouse if I can't find an address for him or her?

If you've tried our suggestions (above) for finding an address for your separated spouse but haven't succeeded, you could apply to the court for an Order for substituted service. See our self-help guide on how to arrange for alternative service. See also the resources on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource (scroll down to "Starting an Action" and read the section called "substitutionally serve someone with legal documents?") for some suggestions on how to proceed.

Can I serve Provincial Court documents on my separated spouse if he or she no longer lives in BC?

Generally, no. If your spouse no longer lives in BC, you'll have to apply in Supreme Court, not Provincial Court. This is because Provincial Court applications can't be validly served on a person outside BC. One exception to this rule is for applications to get or change an order for support. The Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act allows you to apply in Provincial Court if your spouse is outside of BC (or if the order you want to change was made in Provincial Court).

How do I serve Supreme Court documents on a spouse who lives outside BC or outside Canada?

Generally, you must serve documents on a spouse who lives outside BC the same way you would serve a spouse within BC. This is true whether your separated spouse lives in another Canadian province or territory, or in another country. See our self-help guide on how to serve Supreme Court documents outside BC (instructions for the person serving your documents available as a PDF in English; see the Quick link at the right-hand side of the screen).

You can ask a friend or family member who lives near your spouse to personally serve documents for you, or you can hire a professional process server to serve the documents on your spouse for you. Or, if your separated spouse lives in a country that has signed the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, you could choose to have the documents served on your separated spouse by following the procedures set out in that Convention.

If you want to hire a process server to serve the documents personally on your separated spouse, you can try to locate process serving companies where he or she lives using either the local yellow pages or the Internet. The fact that you've not seen your spouse in many years doesn't affect the requirements for serving documents.

How much time do I have to serve my Supreme Court documents after I file them with the court registry?

I originally served my wife with the Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) (or a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim under the old rules) nine months ago, but did not take the next step of having an Affidavit of Service completed and filed with the court registry. This was because serving my wife with the court documents led to new discussions about trying to save our marriage. We've since agreed to move ahead with the divorce, but now I no longer have three copies of the Notice of Family Claim (or Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim). Is the original service still valid, nine months later, or do I have to re-serve the documents? If I have to re-serve the documents, will the court registry give me copies of the documents I already filed, so that I can have them served on my wife? Or must I start from scratch, re-file everything, and pay the full amount again?

A Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) remains effective for 12 months. This means you can continue with your divorce application process because you had the Notice of Family Claim served within that 12-month period. You can apply to renew the Notice of Family Claim if it's not served on the other party within the 12-month period.

Your next step is to have the person who served the documents on your wife complete an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16). See our self-help guide on how to serve Supreme Court documents by personal service.

If the person who served the court documents on your wife is no longer available to swear an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16), you must have someone else re-serve the court documents on your wife. You can have the court documents re-served so long as this happens within 12 months of the date the Notice of Family Claim was filed with the court registry. The new server must then complete an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16). If you need additional copies of the documents that you filed with the court, contact the court registry.

If the Notice of Family Claim hasn't been served within 12 months of the date it was filed with the court registry, an applicant has two options. He or she can either:

• file a new Notice of Family Claim with the court registry (and pay another filing fee) or
• make a separate application to the Supreme Court to have the Notice of Family Claim renewed for another year, and then serve the renewed documents (this is a much cheaper option).

To get help, see the services listed in Who can help?

Where can I find a Supreme Court Notice of Intention to Proceed?

I intend to apply to the Supreme Court to change a final divorce order made more than three years ago. Do I need to serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed (Form F48) before serving a Notice of Application (Form F31)? I searched for this form, but I can't find it. Is there such a form or do I simply write a letter stating my notice of intention to proceed and serve it on the other party?

You don't need to serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed if you have a final order, even if a number of years have passed. You do have to have your Notice of Application (Form F31) served personally on the other party.

If a final order hasn't yet been made and you're proceeding more than one year after you first started, you must complete and serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed (Form F48) on the other party. This is a Supreme Court form that you can use. See our self-help guide called How to use a Supreme Court Notice of Intention to Proceed (Form F48) for links to a blank form, and information about when to use it, and how to fill it out and serve it on the other party.

I need to fill out a Form F30. Where can I find a blank version of this form?

Form F30 is also called an Affidavit. You can find it either on the Court Services Branch forms page or on our Court forms page, listed under Affidavit.

Do the new Supreme Court Family Rules apply to my case if any of my documents were filed before the new rules came into effect?

Yes. All cases started before the new rules took effect on July 1, 2010 are considered (or "deemed") to be family law cases under the new rules.

How do the changed rules affect my case if I filed it before July 2010?

First of all, from July 1 on, you must follow the court rules as set out in the new Supreme Court Family Rules.

Secondly, if you filed documents before July 1, 2010 that contained different names or terms they are considered (or "deemed") to be the new documents and the new terms apply to your case. For example, if you filed a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim before July 1, 2010, you're now considered to be the "claimant" instead of the "plaintiff" and the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim are considered to be the "Notice of Family Claim." If you filed an Appearance or an Appearance and Statement of Defence, you're now the "respondent" instead of the "defendant" and your documents will be referred to as a "Response" under the new rules.

See also our Old Rules/New Rules Chart showing the names of documents filed/terms used under the old rules and what they are called under the new rules.

Do I need to file other documents to replace the ones I filed before July 1, 2010?

In most cases, neither party will have to file new documents. However, if one party does want the other party to use the new form instead of the document they filed before July 1, 2010, they can serve a Demand (Form F99) on the other party, and the other party must file the new document within 21 days of being served with the Demand.

You can't make this demand if final orders have been made for all the claims in your case.

One situation where it might be helpful to ask the other party to file the new form is if the other party filed a Writ of Summons or a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim before July 1, 2010, but you've not yet filed an Appearance or Statement of Defence. The new Response (Form F4) asks you to respond to the facts and claims set out in the Notice of Family Claim and this form will be difficult to fill out if the other party hasn't filed a Notice of Family Claim.