How Do I Respond to a Family Law Action in the Supreme Court?

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Once you have been served with the claimant's Notice of Family Claim, you have some choices:

  • you can do nothing, indicating that you either agree with the claimant's claim or don't object to it,
  • you can defend the claimant's claim — that is, you can oppose it, or
  • you can defend the claimant's claim and make your own claim against the claimant.

If you decide to respond to the claimant's claim, you'll need to fill out and file a Response to Family Claim in Form F4. If you decide to make a claim of your own against the claimant, you'll also need to fill out and file a Counterclaim in Form F5. The forms are available online; see Legal Aid BC’s helpful Family Law website, which has a guide on how to respond when you are served with a Supreme Court form.

You must file your Form 4 Response to Family Claim (and if applicable your Form 5 Counterclaim) within 30 days of being served with the Notice of Family Claim. This deadline runs from the date you were served, not the date the Notice of Family Claim was filed in court. If you were served after 4:00 pm, or on a Saturday, Sunday, or any weekday that's a statutory holiday, the date of service will technically be the next business day. You must file your forms at the court registry where the claimant filed the Notice of Family Claim. The court registry is indicated at the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the Notice of Family Claim. When you go to the courthouse to file your Response to Family Claim and Counterclaim, take 4 copies of each form with you. The Courthouse will keep the original documents, and you will receive three stamped copies.

Once you have filed the Response to Family Claim and the Counterclaim, these documents must be served on the Claimant by way of ordinary service.

The forms[edit]

Your Response to Family Claim is your reply to the claimant's Notice of Family Claim. In this form, you will say which of the facts set out by the claimant you agree with and disagree with, and which of the claimant's claims you agree with and disagree with.

Your Counterclaim is a mirror of the form used by the claimant in the Notice of Family Claim. You must fill out each section of the form and attach all the schedules that relate to the claims you wish to make. While you can use the claimant's Notice of Family Claim as a guide, be careful to include all of the relief you are seeking and use the actual court form to check that you haven't missed anything, since the claimant may not be asking for all of the same orders that you are.

What happens next?[edit]

If either of you is claiming for child support, spousal support, or division of property and debt, you have to fill out a Form F8 Financial Statement. Once you've filed your Response to Family Claim and, if you want, your Counterclaim, the usual next step is to attend a judicial case conference (JCC). Except in certain circumstances, you can't make an application to the court without having a JCC first. Read the page on How Do I Schedule a Judicial Case Conference for Hearing?. Note that your Form F8 Financial Statement is due at least 7 days before the JCC is heard.


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


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