8.2 Completing Court Forms | How To Separate

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8.2 Completing Court Forms

Resource:
To assess court forms for:

For more details and for less common forms, check out the Family Law in BC Court Forms and JP Boyd’s forms guide.

You will need to use your legal writing skills when completing court forms. Court forms are the documents that the court needs from you. These forms ask for specific information from you that help the judge understand your case. Filling out court forms properly helps the judge get a better idea of your situation. For many court forms, you will provide information by filling in blanks and checking boxes.

At the start of your case, you will need initial court forms (sometimes called pleadings). These are the documents that start or respond to an action. Pleadings are important because they set out what your position is and what you want from the court. In your pleadings, you must clearly write what you want the judge to order.

Note: Pleadings in Supreme Court are notices of family, responses and counterclaims. In Provincial Court they are applications and replies.

When writing your initial forms:

Know what order you want – Considering what your legal rights and obligations are and what you want, you can figure out what order to ask from the judge. Look at your Case Building Worksheet from last chapter; you’ve already noted what you want to ask the judge in the first column. Remember you don’t have to claim everything you’re entitled to. It might be helpful to speak to a lawyer before forfeiting any claims if you’re unsure what to do.
Know your legal position – Get familiar with what your legal rights and obligations are. You won’t want to ask for an order that you don’t have a legal right to.
Know the legal position of the other person – Try to understand what the other side wants and why.
Know what to write- Include everything you want the court to order. A judge can only grant you an order that is requested in your initial forms. (E.g. if you only claim child support in your pleadings, you won’t be able to ask the judge for an order relating to property division.)

Tips for writing forms:

Know who’s who- If you are applying or starting the proceedings, you are the Applicant/Claimant. If you are responding, you are the Respondent. The forms and the courts will ask you whether you are the Applicant or Respondent.
Using names
1. Use full names, including middle names.
2. If you or the other party often use a name other than the name on your marriage certificate, include that name by adding “AKA” before that name.
3. If you or your spouse changed your legal name since you were married, include that new name. Bring a copy of the Vital Statistics change of name certificate when you file your documents.

Complete – Be sure to fill in every part of the forms that apply to, you even if the answer is obvious.
Accurate – Be accurate and truthful. Being dishonest in your forms will hurt your case.
Keep it professional- Remember that a judge and the other party will be reading this.
Review – make sure you read through your form before submitting it. Read it as if you know nothing about the case, you’ll want to understand what the facts and orders sought are. Seek legal help if you want a professional to look over your forms. Check out Using Professionals in Chapter 4 for more information.

Often the trick is to figure out the correct form to use. Take a look at the most commonly used court forms for Provincial Court and Supreme Court.

Now that you’re a little more familiar with writing court forms, it’s time to practice writing them. Go through the Court Forms Writing Activity.

SECTION: Common Provincial Court Forms

Form	Name	Description	Sample	Guide
Initial Forms
Form 1 PDF	Application to obtain an Order	This is the form to start your case for a new order. (Usually the first document you will file)	PDF
Form 2 PDF	Application Respecting Existing Orders or Agreements	If you already have an order or agreement but wish to change/ terminate or suspend it this is the form to start proceedings.	PDF
Form 19 PDF	Consent	If you want an order that you and the other party both agree to, fill out this form.
Form 3 PDF	Reply	To respond to an application in Provincial Court for a new order (or to change an order) by the other party. In this form, you can explain what parts of the application you agree with and what parts you don’t agree with. You can also ask the court to make the orders you want by filling out the Counterclaim portion of the form.	PDF
Forms for interim orders
Form 16 PDF	Notice of Motion	Use this form to apply for an interim (temporary) order after you’ve started your case by filing an F1 or F2.	PDF
Form 24 PDF	Notice of Motion in Maintenance Enforcement	Use this form to ask a judge to make an order to deal with any side issue related to enforcing a maintenance order.
Supporting Forms
Form 4 PDF	Financial Statement	To tell the judge about your income, expenses, assets, and debts. Must be filed in some cases (ex: in some cases if you apply for to child support) and in all cases when you respond to child support or apply for, or respond to an application for spousal support.	PDF
Form 34 PDF	Affidavit in Support of Application for Guardianship	Use this special Affidavit to apply to become the guardian of a child if you are a parent who doesn't have guardianship or a non-parent, (relative or non-relative), who wants to become the child's guardian.
Form 17 PDF	Affidavit	Use this form to create a document that states facts that you want to present to the court when you apply for an order (for example, for guardianship or support), and that you swear under oath or affirm to be true.
Order Forms
Form 26 PDF	Order			Order Picklist
Form 20 PDF	Consent Order	Use this form to draft an order when you and the other party agree on the terms of your court order. Once the judge signs it, this becomes your consent order.		Order Picklist
Form 25 PDF	Protection Order	This form sets out conditions that must be followed in order to protect a family member from family violence. When the judge makes the protection order and signs it, it becomes an official court order.		Order Picklist Guide

SECTION: Common Supreme Court Forms

Form	Name	Description	Sample	Guide
Initial Forms
Form 3 PDF	Notice of Family Claim	To start most family law cases It gives the court basic information about your case and the final orders you want. It can be used for an uncontested divorce if you agree on how to settle all your issues.	PDF	Guide
Form 1 PDF	Notice of Joint Family Claim	To start an application if you and your former spouse agree on how to settle all your issues and want to apply together.	PDF
F33 PDF	Consent Order	Use this form if you're applying for an interim order or an order to change a final order, and you and the other party agree on what the order should say.	PDF	Guide
F4 PDF	Response to Family Claim	Use this form to respond to the other party's Notice of Family Claim.	PDF	Guide
F5 PDF	Counterclaim	To respond to a Notice of Family Claim and you want the court to make different orders than the ones the other party asked for.	PDF	Guide
F6 PDF	Response to Counterclaim	Use this form to respond to the other party's Counterclaim.	PDF	Guide
Forms for interim orders
F31 PDF	Notice of Application	To apply for an interim order, to change, suspend or terminate a final court order, arbitration, filed agreement or a determination of a parenting coordinator. It sets out what type of order you want, what evidence you'll use, what the legal basis is for the order, and how long you think the hearing will take.	PDF	Guide
Form 32 PDF	Application Response	To respond to a Notice of Application.
Supporting Forms
F8 PDF	Financial Statement	Provides information about your income, expenses, assets, and debts. Must be filed in some cases if you apply for child support and in all cases when you respond to an application for child support or apply for or respond to an application for spousal support.	PDF	Guide
F101 PDF	Affidavit (guardianship)	If applying to become the guardian of a child, if you are a parent or a non-parent.
F30 PDF	Affidavit	To state facts that you swear under oath usually on an interim or consent application.	PDF	Guide
F16 PDF	Affidavit of Ordinary Service	Use this form to prove that court documents have been delivered.	PDF	Guide
F15 PDF	Affidavit of Personal Service	Use this form to prove that court documents have been personally delivered, by someone other than the parties involved.	PDF	Guide
F38 PDF	Affidavit- desk order divorce	Use when applying for an uncontested divorce
F37 PDF	Child Support Affidavit	Use if applying for final uncontested uncontested orders when all the issues are settled and children are involved. It outlines what financial and parenting arrangements have been made for the children.	Samples
Notice Forms
F19 PDF	Notice of Judicial Case Conference	File this form at the court registry to request a date and time for your Judicial Case Conference (JCC) and give it to the other party.	Sample
F44 PDF	Notice of Trial	To schedule your trial. Done after you've reserved trial dates.	PDF
Order Forms
F51 PDF	Order Made After Application	For interim orders or to change an order. Set out the details of what you want the judge to order.	PDF	Guide
F51.1 PDF	Order Made at Judicial Case Conference	Use this form when you and the other party have agreed on orders made at a Judicial Case Conference. Set out the details of what you have agreed to.	PDF	Guide
F52 PDF	Final Order	Use this when applying for or writing a final order.	PDF	Guide
F54 PDF	Protection Order	Sets out the details of what you want the court to order (or what they have ordered) when you apply for an order to protect you or a family member.

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