Enforce a parenting agreement or order in Supreme Court

This guide is to help you ask the court to enforce a parenting agreement or order, and impose consequences, if the other parent isn't following the agreement or order. For example:

• If they don't show up or aren't available to care for a child as agreed or ordered.
• If they refuse to let you spend time with the child.

Can you agree?

Supreme Court applications cost time and money. Before you start a court process, think about whether you can get the other person to follow your agreement or order without going to court. See Who can help you reach an agreement? for resources and services. You can also try to work things out at a Judicial Case Conference in Step 2.

Do this guide only if:

• you can't come to an agreement, AND
• the other parent repeatedly fails to follow your order or agreement; OR
• the other parent's failure to follow your order or agreement has caused you and your child extreme inconvenience and has cost you money.

You'll need

• A copy of your signed agreement
• A blank Requisition (Form F17.1)
• $30 to file the agreement

If you're applying to enforce an agreement, you must first file it with the court. Filing your agreement is straightforward and either you or the other person can do it.

1. Make a copy of your signed agreement.
2. Fill out the Requisition (Form F17.1). The Requisition is a request to file the agreement. When you fill out the Requisition, you're the claimant, and the other person is the respondent.

3. Take the Requisition, a copy of your agreement, and the $30 filing fee to a Supreme Court registry. You'll have to return to the same Supreme Court registry to complete your application, so choose one that's convenient.

   Fees sometimes change. You can confirm the amount by calling the registry or checking the Supreme Court Civil Rules.

   You must pay the fee in cash, or with a certified cheque or money order made out to the Minister of Finance. Many court registries will also take debit cards, but check first.

4. The registry clerk will:
   • check your documents,
   • take your payment,
   • stamp your documents with the court seal and your file number, and
   • put your documents into the file for your case.

You now have an open family law case and can take steps to enforce your agreement. Write down your court file number to use on the rest of your forms.

You'll need

• To attend a Judicial Case Conference, if you haven't already

Before you file an application to enforce an agreement, you and the other person must attend a Judicial Case Conference (JCC). A JCC is a meeting between you, the other person, your lawyers (if you have them), and a judge or associate judge. It's an opportunity to see if you can settle your case without going to court. If you can't, it can also help you prepare for the hearing.

For a step-by-step guide on how to schedule, prepare for, and attend a JCC, see Deal with a Judicial Case Conference.

If you and the other person still can't agree after the JCC, go to Step 3: Fill out the forms to apply for an order to enforce the agreement or order.

You'll need

• A Notice of Application (Form F31)
• An Affidavit (Form F30)
• Your photo identification
• Someone to swear or affirm your Affidavit

If you don't work things out at the Judicial Case Conference (JCC), the first set of forms you must fill out include:

• a Notice of Application (Form F31), and
• an Affidavit (Form F30) as evidence to support the application.

You can fill out these forms on your computer, or print the PDF and fill it out by hand. You will need 3 copies of the Notice of Application and Affidavit. One for you, one to serve on the other person and the original to file with the court .

Notice of Application (Form F31)

Follow these steps to fill out the first part of the Notice of Application:

• After filling out the PDF form, click the button Preview and Sign Document. Or to fill it out by hand, click Preview Blank Copy and print it.
• Fill in your court file number at the top of the form and choose your Supreme Court registry from the drop-down menu. Use the same registry where your agreement or orders are filed.
• Fill in your name as the claimant and check Filing Party. Add the other person's name as the respondent and check Affected Party.
• On the lines below the heading Notice of Application, fill in your names and the address of your Supreme Court registry. You're the applicant and the other person is the person affected.
• For the time estimate you are required to say how long you think the application will take to be heard. You must consider the time you think it will take the other side to respond to your submissions in court. For example, if you think you will take 30 minutes and the other person will take 30 minutes, you will write 1 hour for your time estimate. 
• For the proposed date of hearing write in the date or proposed date range when the hearing will take place. Try to agree with the other party on a hearing date when you are both available. If you cannot agree on a date, or get in contact with the other party, you can choose a date yourself when you file the Notice of Hearing of Application (Step 5). Make sure you allow enough time to serve the other party, wait 5 business days for their response and then complete the remaining steps. The shortest amount of time you can have between serving the unfiled Notice of Application and affidavits and the date of the hearing is 11 business days assuming the other person served you their response on the last possible day.  Business days do not include weekends or statutory holidays. 

In Part 1: Order(s) sought, tell the court what orders you're asking for. See What happens if you don't follow a parenting agreement or order? for more information about what orders the court can make.

In Part 2: Factual basis, tell the court why you're asking for an order. Describe what the other person has done or is doing to break the terms of your parenting agreement or order.

In Part 3: Legal basis, tell the court if you're relying on a law or legal argument in asking to enforce the agreement or order.

In Part 4: Material to be relied on, on each of the lines fill in the number 1, your name, and the date you make your Affidavit (Form F30). List any other affidavits you want to use.

Affidavit (Form F30)

Your Affidavit (Form F30) is the evidence that supports your application. In your Affidavit, you must include information about:

• your arrangements for parenting,
• what the other person did or didn't do that went against your agreement or order, and
• the consequences (for example, you had to pay for childcare, your children were upset, etc.).

Attach your order or agreement to the Affidavit as an exhibit.

Once you've filled in all the information, you need to have the Affidavit sworn. A commissioner for taking affidavits will witness your signature.

Swear or affirm the Affidavit

After you've completed the Affidavit you must swear or affirm that the information that appears in it is true. You can have it sworn by a:

• lawyer,
• notary public, or
• commissioner for taking affidavits.

There will usually be at least one clerk at a court registry able to swear affidavits.

If you're going to a lawyer or a notary public, make sure they can swear or affirm the document for you. Mention that the document is an affidavit and attachments and make an appointment if you need to. Tell the person that you don't need advice.

Take photo identification (ID) with you. The person swearing the documents will check your ID. Then they'll ask if you've read the affidavit and if you swear (or affirm) that the contents are true to the best of your knowledge and belief. If you answer yes, you sign the documents, and the person witnesses your signature.

You'll need

• Your completed Notice of Application (Form F31)
• Your sworn Affidavit (Form F30) and its attached exhibit(s)
• A blank Affidavit of Ordinary Service (Form F16)

Serve the documents

Serve the unfiled Notice of Application and your Affidavit on the other person. You can serve the documents by ordinary service. This means you can:

• drop them off at a residential or business address,
• send them by regular mail,
• fax them with a Fax Cover Sheet (Form F95), or
• email them.

Complete the Affidavit of Ordinary Service (Form 16)

If you think the other person won't show up, you'll need to prove that you've served your documents on them by filling out an Affidavit of Ordinary Service (Form F16).

Attach copies of the served documents to the Affidavit. Each copy must be marked as an Exhibit and labelled Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, etc. (depending on how many documents there are). If the documents aren't attached and properly marked, your Affidavit won't be accepted by the court and you'll have to have the documents served again.

Take the Affidavit and attachments to a lawyer, a notary public, or a clerk at the court registry to swear or affirm that the documents have been served. (There's a fee for this.) The lawyer, notary, or clerk will sign the Affidavit, and stamp and sign each attachment. You can file the Affidavit of Ordinary Service when you file your documents in Step 5.

Wait for a response

The other person must respond within five business days from when they're served with your Notice of Application (Form F31).

The other person responds by serving you with:

• an Application Response (Form F32), and
• each Affidavit (Form F30) and any other document referred to in the Application Response that hasn't already been filed.

If the other person agrees with what you're asking for, you have three options:

• Withdraw your application if you don’t need an order.
• You continue follow the remaining steps (including to file and serve a Notice of Hearing of Application to set the hearing date) and you both show up in court on the date set for the hearing and ask for a consent order (an order you both agree to).
• Switch to our step-by-step guide Get an interim family order in Supreme Court if you both agree and follow the steps. The process for getting an interim order if you agree can be simpler and you might not have to go to court.

If the other person does not agree with what you're asking for, move on through the next steps. 

You can file your court documents once one of the following has happened:
 

• The other party serves you with their Application Response and Affidavit, or
• 5 business days have passed since they received your documents, and they haven't responded.

You will need:

• Your Notice of Application (Form F31) (3 copies)
• Your Affidavit (Form F30) (3 copies)
• Any other supporting affidavits you haven't already filed but intend to rely on at the hearing (3 copies)
• A completed Notice of Hearing of Application (Form F31.1) (3 copies)
• An Affidavit of Ordinary Service (Form F16), which shows you served the other party (2 copies)
• $80 fee to file the Notice of Application. 

Complete the Notice of Hearing of Application (Form F31.1)

This form will set the date of the hearing. Fill it out as follows: 

Service - You will set out when you served the other person and when or if they responded. 

Date of hearing - You will tick whether you and the other person have agreed on the date of the hearing or whether you will serve this Form F31.1 notifying the other person of the date of the hearing at least 4 business days beforehand. Or whether the application is by consent (agreed), unopposed (the other party will not argue against it) or without notice to the other party. Without notice applications are only allowed in specific circumstances or cases of urgency. See Supreme Court Scheduling on how to book a chambers application in your court registry. 

Duration of hearing - this part asks whether the parties agree to the duration of the hearing. 

Jurisdiction - this part asks if your issue can be heard by an associate judge. If you aren’t sure, ask the registry. Associate judges cannot give final orders and have other restrictions. 

Orders sought - if you are seeking the same orders as set out in your notice of application, set them out here. If you and the other party have agreed on any orders in the meantime, you can set out that those ones are “by consent”. 

File the court documents and serve Notice of Hearing of Application

Take these documents and the fee to your Supreme Court Registry.  A registry clerk will take your money. review your documents, stamp them with the court seal and put the original into the file for your case. The stamped copies are returned to you. 

Once you have filed the Notice of Hearing of Application, serve it on the other person. This will let them know the date of the hearing. They must be served at least 4 business days before the date set for hearing. Make sure you leave enough time to serve them and complete the remaining steps. 

Prepare a reply affidavit, if necessary

If you receive an affidavit from the other person that contains new facts or issues, you might want to complete a reply Affidavit (Form F30). You must only respond to new information in the other person's new affidavit.

You must serve your reply Affidavit within 3 business days after you were served with the Application Response. You must file your reply Affidavit by 4pm 2 business days before the hearing. If you set the hearing for a Friday in your Notice of Hearing of Application, that means you must file the reply Affidavit by Wednesday at 4pm.

You'll need

• Two one-inch or one-and-a-half-inch binders
• Two sets of tabbed divider pages with numbers
• Two elastic bands big enough to go around the binders
• Copies of all your documents, including:
  • your filed Notice of Application (Form F31),
  • the other person's Application Response (Form F32), and Affidavits, if you receive them,
  • your reply Affidavits, if you had any, and
• A blank Application Record index

An Application Record is a loose-leaf ring binder, divided by tabs, that contains the documents filed for the application and the legal arguments you'll rely on to make your case. The judge or associate judge will use this information, along with what you say in court, to decide whether to give you the order you're asking for.

You need two copies of the Application Record: one for you and one for the court. The court will return their copy to you at the end of the court hearing.

You need an extra copy of the Notice of Application to keep outside of the Application Record (not whole punched) to give to the registry. You should clear mark the orders sought. 

The Application Record can include:

• draft orders
• written arguments
• lists of authorities (citations for any case, textbook, article, or statute you might use to support your argument)
• a draft bill of costs

Steps for preparing an Application Record

Follow these steps to assemble each of two Application Records:

Serve the Application Record index on the other person and file the Application Record at the court registry

You must complete the following steps before 4 pm on the day that's two business days before the date set for the hearing in your Notice of Application. If your hearing is on a Friday, you must file these documents by 4pm on the Wednesday. 

File a copy of your Application Record at the registry

Give one copy of the full Application Record to the court registry. You must file your Application Record  no earlier than 9am on the day that is 5 business days before the hearing and no later than 4pm on the day that is 2 business days before the hearing. If the hearing is on a Friday, you can file between 9am the Friday prior to the hearing and 4pm on the Wednesday prior to the hearing. Do not forget to bring an extra loose copy of the Notice of Application that is not whole-punched for the registry. Clearly mark the orders you are seeking.

Serve a copy of your index

If the other person responded to your Notice of Application, serve a copy of the Application Record index on them by ordinary service. Go back to Step 4: File and serve for instructions on serving documents by ordinary service.

You'll need

• A draft Final Order (Form F52)

Go to the hearing

You'll be appearing in Chambers to ask a judge or Associate Judge to make the orders you want. See What happens in a Supreme Court Chambers hearing? to find out more about Chambers.

After the hearing

After you appear in court, you need to prepare a Final Order (Form F52) that says what the judge or master decided. The form contains technical instructions to help you.

If you or the other person has a lawyer, the lawyer will usually prepare the final order. This applies even though it's your application. If this happens, ask to review and sign the order before the lawyer gives it to the court registry.

At this point, the order is called a draft order. Make a copy of the draft order for your records until you get the entered Final Order.

File the draft order at the court registry

Take your completed and signed draft order and copy to the court registry where the hearing was held.

The court registry staff will review the order, then have it signed by the court, stamped, and entered or filed.

Entering the order can take several weeks. Give the clerk a self-addressed envelope if you'd like them to mail it to you. If not, ask the court registry clerk when you might be able to pick up the entered order.

Check with the registry to ask when your Final Order is ready for you to pick up. The registry won't contact you when it's ready.

Give a copy to the other person

Once you have your entered order, make extra copies. Keep one for your records, and give one to the other person.

You've completed all the steps to apply to enforce a court order or agreement. Thank you for using our step-by-step guide.