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, 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, 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.