How Do I Fix an Error in an Order?

From Clicklaw Wikibooks
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

If you've found a mistake in an order that has been entered in court, whether an order of the Provincial Court or of the Supreme Court, you must apply to court to correct the order. Applications like these are limited to clerical errors or omissions; applying to correct an order is not a short cut to an appeal of the order!

Applications to correct orders are usually limited to things such as misspellings, incorrect dates, or bits of the oral order that were left out of the written order.

Provincial Court[edit]

You will have to prepare an Application for Case Management Order in Form 10, which will be used to bring an application to correct the terms of an order made under the Provincial Court Family Rules. See Legal Aid BC's Family Law website's online list of forms, or use the online Apply for a Family Law Act Order tool which will lead you through the steps and prepare a form you can then print out and file.

Filling out Form 10[edit]

In section 8 of the Form 10 Application for Case Management Order, select the option "settling or correcting the terms of an order made under the rules".

In section 9 of the form, use the wording suggested in the BC Provincial Court's Family Law Act Orders Picklist, which contains standard wording for orders of the Provincial Court. The standard language for correction of an order reads:

Pursuant to Rule 62(q), the Order of the Honourable Judge (name) dated (date) is amended as follows:

(a) The following term is deleted: (insert the term to be deleted)

(b) The following term is added: (insert the new term)

The application must be made with notice to the other party. If the other party agrees to the order, you can apply by consent and you can choose to have the application reviewed by a judge with or without attending a court appearance. To give notice, serve each party with a copy of the application.

The application will be made under Rule 170 of the Provincial Court Family Rules, which gives a judge the authority to correct "a clerical mistake or omission in an order."

Supreme Court[edit]

You will have to prepare two forms to apply to correct an order in the Supreme Court:

  1. a Notice of Application in Form F31, and
  2. an Affidavit in Form F30.

The notice of application will simply say that you're applying to correct the order of judge or associate judge so-and-so, made on such-and-such a date. The affidavit will simply discuss the problem in the order and provide some proof about what the order ought to say, such as the court clerk's notes from the original hearing. Ask the registry to see the clerk's notes.

The Slip Rule[edit]

The application will be made under Rule 15-1(18) of the Supreme Court Family Rules, also called the slip rule, which gives the court the authority to:

  1. Correct a "clerical mistake" in an order resulting from "an accidental slip or omission."
  2. Amend an order to decide an issue that should have been decided but wasn't.

The scope of the Supreme Court rule is a bit broader than its counterpart in the Provincial Court Family Rules.

These applications are normally brought before the same judge that made the order being reviewed, but if that's not possible or convenient, another judge of that court can hear it and make necessary changes.

A useful case to read is O.K. v. I.C.M., 2023 BCSC 1893, which illustrates the application of the "slip rule" under Rule 15-1(18) to do two different things:

  • The court corrected a mathematical error in the awarded amounts for spousal support.
  • The judge also addressed an oversight concerning a child's passport issue in the original order. The judge added a term for the surrender of the passport, since not doing so was an oversight, and to do so served the court's original intention.

More information[edit]

You can find more information about how the slip rule is applied in BC Supreme Court by reviewing the brief notes about Supreme Court Civil Rule 13-1(17) in The CanLII Manual to British Columbia Civil Litigation, which is freely available online. The Supreme Court uses the slip rule in both family law and civil proceedings, and you can learn how Rule 15-1(18) of BC's Supreme Court Family Rules is used by seeing how its counterpart in the Supreme Court Civil Rules (Rule 13-1(17)) has been used.


This information applies to British Columbia, Canada. Last reviewed for legal accuracy by Maryam Sodagar, September 21, 2023.


Creativecommonssmall.png JP Boyd on Family Law © John-Paul Boyd and Courthouse Libraries BC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada Licence.