Conferences and Provincial Court Family Law Proceedings

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JP Boyd on Family Law
JP Boyd on Family Law
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Case conferences are meetings between the parties to a court proceeding, their lawyers (if they have them), and a judge, usually for purposes relating to the management or settlement of the court proceeding.

This section discusses 'Family Management Conferences, Family Settlement Conferences, and Trial Preparation Conferences, which are the most common kinds of conferences held in the Provincial Court. It also talks about trial management, and provides tips about how you can get the most out of your time and the judge's time at case conferences.

Introduction

Case conferences are held to either move a court proceeding toward trial or to explore options for settlement. In Provincial Court, most case conferences are held virtually on Microsoft Teams. Although case conferences are a little less formal than hearings and trials, they still need to be taken seriously and the judge needs to be treated with the same respect.

The majority of court proceedings in the Provincial Court, once the Application about a Family Law Matter and the Reply to the Application about a Family Law Matter are filed, will have a Family Management Conference before any other court appearance.

The focus at a Family Management is on settling any of the legal issues that can be agreed to, getting short-term arrangements for the support and parenting of children set up, and planning the next few steps in the proceeding. Almost always, a Family Management Conference is mandatory, meaning that you cannot move forward in the court proceeding without going to one.

Family Settlement Conferences are optional and are not very common. The focus here is on seeing if parties can settle before going to trial. These conferences are held with a judge who will give some ideas about possible settlements and this judge will not be the judge at any future trial unless no other judge is available.

Trial Preparation Conferences in the Provincial Court are all about getting the court proceeding ready for trial. They are held towards the end of a proceeding and are focused on making sure that all of the parties are ready to go. Trial Preparation Conferences are not mandatory in Provincial Court, but any party can request one and judges prefer to have Trial Preparation Conferences where at least one party is self-represented.

Conferences in the Provincial Court

The three types of case conferences held in the Provincial Court are Family Management Conferences, Family Settlement Conferences, and Trial Preparation Conferences.

Family Management Conferences

A Family Management Conference ("FMC") is an informal process where a judge or family justice manager tries to help the parties narrow down the issues they disagree about, and if possible, resolve them. Case management orders, directions, and interim orders can be made at a Family Management Conference, including about parenting arrangements child support, and spousal support. Even final orders can be made if the parties consent or if one party doesn't attend (when that happens, a default order can be made). The Provincial Court includes information about these conferences and how they're scheduled when a scheduling notice is sent out after the Form 6 Reply to the Application About a Family Law Matter is filed.

Usually, once the reply is filed, the court registry will let both parties know how to schedule the FMC. In some court registries, the registry will schedule the FMC for you and let you both know when it is. If that date doesn't work for you, you will have to ask for another date.

If you filed a Form 3 Application About a Family Law Matter and the other party did not file a reply within 30 days of being personally served with the application, you can request that a FMC be scheduled without notifying the other party. You can reach out to the court registry and they will assist you in scheduling this.

For what to expect at a FMC, see the Provincial Court of BC's information page on the topic.

Additional information about FMC is available from Legal Aid BC's Family Law website:

Remember from the section on Starting and Responding to Provincial Court Family Law Proceedings in this chapter, the steps you need to take before reaching an FMC depends on what type of registry you are filing in:

  1. For Early Resolution Registries (Victoria, Surrey, Port Coquitlam, and soon to be more), you must complete a needs assessment, a parenting education course, and consensual dispute resolution before even filing an Application About a Family Law Matter.
  2. For Family Justice registries (Kelowna, Nanaimo, and (until November 2025) Vancouver (Robson Square)), you can file a Form 3 Application About a Family Law Matter but you must complete a needs assessment and a parenting education course before attending an FMC.
  3. For every other registry, you can file an Application About a Family Law Matter but you must complete a parenting education course before attending an FMC.

Family Settlement Conferences

A Family Settlement Conference can be held after a Family Management Conference and at any point leading up to trial. These conferences are conducted by a judge (who won't then preside over the trial unless no other judge is available). During a Family Management Conference, the judge may order the parties to attend a Family Settlement Conference if the judge thinks that the parties could resolve their issues without the need for a trial. If a judge agrees, a person other than a party and their lawyer can be allowed to come to the Family Settlement Conference.

You can also request a Family Settlement Conference by filing a Form 10 Application for a Case Management Order and checking the box "Respecting the conduct of a party or management of a case" and specifying that you want an order that the parties attend a Family Settlement Conference.

At a Family Settlement Conference, the judge can help mediate any issues to see if the parties can reach an agreement and the judge can even give their opinion about what might happen at trial. Because the judge will be exposed to these more candid discussions with the parties, the judge at a Family Settlement Conference won't be the trial judge unless no other judge is available.

The judge can make any order if both parties agree and the judge can also make orders about procedure (such as ordering that parties provide certain documents or have a further Family Settlement or Management Conference) if the judge thinks it will help the parties come to agreement or prepare better for trial.

Because a Family Settlement Conference is like a mediation, what happens at a Family Settlement Conference is confidential, meaning you can't bring it up later at a trial.

The Provincial Court has a helpful information page about Family Settlement Conferences on its website, and the Legal Aid BC's Family Law website also has more information about what to expect, what to prepare, and what can come out of these conferences.

Trial Preparation Conferences

Under the Provincial Court Family Rules, a judge who sets a court proceeding for trial may also set a date for a Trial Preparation Conference. Judges are very likely to set these conferences when one or both parties are self-represented. As a party, you can also request a Trial Preparation Conference by filing a Form 10 Application for a Case Management Order and checking the box "Respecting the conduct of a party or management of a case" and specifying that you want an order for the parties to attend a Trial Preparation Conference.

A party is usually required to attend a Trial Preparation Conference, unless the party has a lawyer and they're available to speak with their lawyer by telephone (if the lawyer needs to get instructions during the conference). Most Trial Preparation Conferences are held virtually through Microsoft Teams.

Trial Preparation Conferences are short appearances before a judge in court to discuss how the trial will proceed and what, if any, additional steps must be taken to get the court proceeding ready for trial, such as exchanging documents and information, organizing experts' reports, or confirming witnesses.

More information about trial preparation conferences can be found later in this chapter, in the section Trials in the Provincial Court.

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This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Kendra Marks, 24 January 2025.


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