In addition to knowing what you want to present in court and how, you need to make sure you get your matter onto the court’s calendar so that you actually have your opportunity to be heard! Here, we provide a brief overview of how you can get a court date in British Columbia and some important distinctions depending on what exactly you need a court date for.

Remember that regardless of the type of court date you are trying to book, except in absolute emergencies (usually, but not always, where safety is an issue), you should be ensuring that you select dates which the other side and their lawyer (if applicable) are also available for. It is appropriate practice to reach out in advance of making any bookings and obtain the other side’s availability and time estimate for the court appearance.

Obtaining a BC Supreme Court Trial Date

This is usually the last of the court dates that a proceeding will have if the parties do not settle their issues outside of court. Trials are often booked early on, even if parties aren’t sure that they will need a trial, because the available court dates fill up quickly. 

You can see the available dates on the Supreme Court Scheduling website, where you can select a court location to view. There will be different availabilities for different lengths of trial—for example, 1-2 days, 4-5 days, and 6-15 days. Dates can be secured either by calling into scheduling or online as explained on the scheduling website.

There is a small fee when you file a Notice of Trial, which you must do shortly afterward to ensure that the dates are held for your matter. If you end up settling out of court and don’t need your trial dates, you should advise court scheduling as soon as possible. There is no charge for cancelations, but advance notice is appreciated so that dates can be made available for other matters.

 Chambers Applications (2 Hours or Shorter) 

There is not much to be done in terms of securing a court date if you have an application that requires less than two hours of court time! When filing a Notice of Application, you simply indicate in your application what day you intend for it to be heard. 

Mind the filing deadlines, however—if you file your Notice of Application late, the registry may refuse to add you to the court list for your selected day. Also note that not all court locations have chambers sittings every day the way that busy locations such as Vancouver do, and therefore, you should check with your specific location in advance.

Chambers Applications (Over 2 Hours)

These can be tricky to obtain a court date for. You have to book some time in advance—usually in the month that is two months before when you want your application to take place (for example, if you want an application day in May, you have to book in March). The Supreme Court schedule website lists availability for long chambers and also has a calendar showing when booking will open for a particular month. Most often, booking opens the second week of a given month for dates two months forward, and it opens on a specific day (commonly, the second Tuesday or Wednesday of every month). 

Note that these dates are usually in high demand, and booking fills up very quickly. Usually, you need to be on the phone to court scheduling the very moment that booking opens. Oftentimes, people are unable to get their first choice of date or even a date in the month they wanted, and have to try again for the following month on the next booking day.

Obtaining a Date for a Conference

This would most likely be a Judicial Case Conference in family law proceedings, but you may need other conferences as well. Dates are posted on the Supreme Court scheduling website. You can call in to reserve a date and, as with trials, a Notice of Judicial Case Conference (or other conference, as applicable) will usually need to be filed to ensure the date is held.

Keep in mind that in some cases, for example, where you need to appear before a specific judge or you are moving a previously scheduled court appearance, there will be distinct procedures that are beyond the scope of this blog. The experienced family law lawyers at Westside Family Law are happy to provide their expertise and experience in BC Supreme Court. Contact us for further information.