Early consolidation of the Supreme Court Civil Rules and Supreme Court Family Rules from Quickscribe
August 08, 2023

Supreme Court Civil Rules (B.C. Reg. 168/2009) Early Consolidation from Quickscribe:

NOTE: This is an early consolidation of amendments made by B.C. Reg. 176/2023(link is external), which will come into force on September 1, 2023.

The amendments aim to clarify existing rules, streamline court processes, and improve accessibility to court services. The key changes include:

  1. Definitions (R. 1-1(1)): adding a definition for "business day", which means a day on which the court registries are open for business.
  2. Service of documents (R. 4-1(1)): requiring an email address, if available, for service of documents.
  3. Trial management conferences (R. 12-2(1)): reducing the circumstances in which a trial management conference (“TMC”) is required. Parties are no longer required to have a TMC between 28 and 120 days before the trial date. Unless the court otherwise orders, TMCs are required if the trial is a jury trial, if the trial will be more than 15 days in length, if a party does not or may not have legal representation at the trial, or if a party of record requests a TMC by filing a requisition at least 42 days before the trial date.
  4. Application and petition records (R. 8-1(15) and 16-1(11)): restricting how early before the date of a hearing an application record or petition record may be provided to the registry. Parties must now provide application and petition records to the registry no earlier than 9:00 a.m. on the business day that is three full business days before the date set for the hearing and no later than 4:00 p.m. on the business day that is one full business day before the date set for the hearing. However, if an earlier date is fixed by a registrar, the application or petition record must be provided to the registry on or before that date.
  5. Trial briefs (R. 12-1.1): a new rule setting out requirements relating to trial briefs, including that the failure to file or serve a trial brief may lead to the removal of the trial from the trial list or a costs award against the party that failed to file or serve a trial brief.

This Supreme Court Civil Rules early consolidation has been made available from Quickscribe.

Supreme Court Family Rules (B.C. Reg. 169/2009) Early Consolidation from Quickscribe:

NOTE: This is an early consolidation of amendments made by B.C. Reg. 176/2023(link is external), which will come into force on September 1, 2023.

The key changes include:

  1. Definitions (R. 1-1(1)): adding a definition for "business day", which means a day on which the court registries are open for business.
  2. Service of documents (R. 6-1(1)): requiring an email address, if available, for service of documents.
  3. Trial management conferences (R. 14-3(1)): reducing the circumstances in which a trial management conference (“TMC”) is required. Parties are no longer required to have a TMC between 28 and 120 days before the trial date. Unless the court otherwise orders, TMCs are required if the trial is a jury trial, if the trial will be more than 15 days in length, if a party does not or may not have legal representation at the trial, or if a party of record requests a TMC by filing a requisition at least 42 days before the trial date.
  4. Application and petition records (R. 10-6(14) and 17-1(11)): restricting how early before the date of a hearing an application record or petition record may be provided to the registry. Parties must now provide application and petition records to the registry no earlier than 9:00 a.m. on the business day that is three full business days before the date set for the hearing and no later than 4:00 p.m. on the business day that is one full business day before the date set for the hearing. However, if an earlier date is fixed by a registrar, the application or petition record must be provided to the registry on or before that date.
  5. Trial briefs (R. 14-2.1): a new rule setting out requirements relating to trial briefs, including that the failure to file or serve a trial brief may lead to the removal of the trial from the trial list or a costs award against the party that failed to file or serve a trial brief.
  6. Case-planning conferences (Part 7.1): new rules providing for a case-planning conference option in family law cases.

This Supreme Court Family Rules early consolidation has been made available from Quickscribe.