Difference between revisions of "Family Law Trials in Supreme Court"

Summary trials must be heard at least 42 days before the scheduled trial date (see Rule 11-3(3) of the Supreme Court Rules) and a summary trial application must be set for hearing in accordance with Part 10 of the Supreme Family Court Rules (Obtaining Orders Other Than at Trial).   

Again, preparing for trial requires careful planning and organization as well as being mindful of the many deadlines set out in the rules of court.  All deadlines count back from the 1st day of trial (not the last or any day in between) and should be considered well in advance of the actual deadline.  The main (but NOT only) deadlines in a Supreme Court proceeding are as follows:

| Any plans, objects or photographs to be relied upon at trial must be available for inspection by the other party (rule 14-7(10))

Each party has the right to cross-examine a joint expert at trial (Rule 13-4(10) of the Supreme Court Rules).

Each party is required to cooperate with the jointly appointed expert and to produce in a timely manner all relevant documents and information to the jointly appointed expert (Rule 13-4(9) of the Supreme Court Rules).

as well as access to the contents of the expert's file relating to the preparation of the opinion set out in the expert's report.  The party receiving the request must respond promptly to it (see Rule 13-6(8) of the Supreme Court Rules).

(2) that the expert may be required to attend trial for the purpose of cross-examination (See Rule 13-6(9) of the Supreme Court Rules).

The usual rule is that each party must file and serve on the other party an updated financial statement at least 28 days before trial (but not more than 63 days before the start of the trial).  There is an exception for parties who have delivered their original Form F8 within 91 days before the start of the trial (see Rule 5-1(8) of the Supreme Court Rules).

Once you have collected your documents for use at trial and you know how you intend to prove each one, you can start preparing your book of documents.  Start by organizing the documents in chronological order (by date);  then separate each document by numbered tabs to make them easy to find, and if the documents are longer than one page number each page of that document starting with page one for each separate document (this is required by rule 17-7(9) of the [http://canlii.ca/t/8mcr Supreme Court Family Rules]).  You will need to prepare an index of each document included in the book and the corresponding tab number for each.

If the expert has been jointly appointed, each party has the right to cross-examine that expert at trial (see Rule 13-4(10) of the Supreme Court Rules).