How Do I Change Something in My Notice of Family Claim?

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The pleadings[edit]

Pleadings are the documents that start a court proceeding or reply to a court proceeding. The information and terms below (including the form name Notice of Family Claim) apply to claims filed in the Supreme Court. This information is not applicable to claims in the Provincial Court.

For the person who starts a proceeding, the claimant, pleadings are usually:

  • Notice of Family Claim in Form F3
  • Response to Counterclaim in Form F6 (if the respondent has filed a Counterclaim in Form F5)

For the person who is replying to a court proceeding, the respondent, these documents are usually:

  • Response to Family Claim in Form F4
  • Counterclaim in Form F5

Sometimes a party's pleadings need to be changed, or amended. Usually, a change is required because a fact is wrong, like a date or a name. At other times, a change is required to raise a new defence or to make a new claim.

For example, say a claimant had a job when an action started and then lost it halfway through the case. If the claimant now needs spousal support but didn't make that claim in their Notice of Family Claim, the claimant would need to amend their pleadings to include the new claim for spousal support subject to any time limitations in the Family Law Act.

The rules[edit]

Pleadings are important because they describe the basic nuts and bolts of a party's claim or defence, and the facts that are said to support the claim or defence. They are the foundation of the court proceeding and the basis upon which each party will prepare for trial. As a result, there are special rules about amending pleadings. These are set out in Rule 8-1 of the Supreme Court Family Rules.

Firstly, you can't just amend your pleadings when you feel like it:

  • under Rule 8-1(1)(a), you can make one set of changes, however major or minor, at any time before the Notice of Trial has been served,
  • under Rule 8-1(1)(b), you can make another set of changes with the written consent of the other party, and
  • to make changes in any other circumstances, you'll first need to get the court's permission, also known as leave of the court.

Secondly, you must mark all of your amendments. All of the changes are to be underlined in red ink to make it obvious exactly what's been changed. When a lot of text has been changed, say the size of a whole paragraph or more, the lines can be made to run up the left and right sides of the amended text instead of under each and every line of text (i.e. put the paragraph in a bracket).

Next, the title of the changed document always starts with the word Amended, such as the Amended Notice of Family Claim or the Amended Counterclaim, to distinguish the new, changed document from the original. When an amended document is amended again, the title of the new document begins with the phrase Further Amended, as in the Further Amended Notice of Family Claim.

You'll also need to add some information to the top of the first page to indicate why you were able to change your pleadings, and still note when the original document was filed. For example, for a change made before delivery of the Notice of Trial, you would write:

Amended pursuant to Rule 8-1(1)(a).

Original filed on 25 October 2022.

File the amended documents in the court registry where the action was started. You may need to pay filing fees again for the newly amended pleadings. Serve the new pleadings on the other side by ordinary service within seven days, unless no response was ever filed by that party. In that case, since you don't have anything official from them that says their address for service, you need to promptly and personally serve the amended pleadings on them all over again, and before nay other steps are taken in the family law case.

Lastly, it's important to note that there are two types of amendments you cannot make under Rule 8-1:

  1. You can't add or change a party.
  2. You can't withdraw an admission.

If you need to change, add, or remove a party to the litigation you must follow the additional steps set out in Rule 8-2, and get a court order under that rule.


This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Mark Norton, September 14, 2023.


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