How do I make an urgent family application to the Supreme Court of BC?

Last reviewed March 2026 by the Clicklaw editors

A chambers application, or interim application, is a way to ask the court to do something during an existing family law case (where a Notice of Family Claim has already been filed), before the final decision for orders. An application might be for deciding who gets to live in a house while a trial is ongoing or asking for an order for documents to be disclosed if they haven’t been. You may need to do an urgent application for an order so you can have the hearing quickly, also known as short notice. Or you may need to make the application without notice if you’re afraid for your safety or can’t find the other party.

Making an urgent application

You can make an urgent application with short notice or without notice through the same process.

Urgent applications

Short notice applications happen when time is sensitive, such as if your co-parent wants to take a child out of the country and you don’t agree.

The instructions for urgent applications are in Rule 10-9 of the Supreme Court Family Rules.

To file a short notice application:

  1. Requisition
    •  Start by filling out a Form F32.01 (PDF) — Requisition — Short Notice.
    • This requisition form is asking that a hearing or decision be made quickly. It’s not asking for the order you want the judge to make.
  2. Affidavit
    • Attach your evidence, in Form F30 (PDF) — Affidavit to the requisition to support your application. This form isn’t required under the rules, but you might need it to help back up your request with proof in the form of documents.
  3. Notice of Application
    • Attach a draft of your Notice of Application, Form F31 (PDF) to the short notice requisition. Leave the date for the application blank. If your short notice request is approved, the judge will give you a date for your application.

If the courts agree that your application should be heard on short notice, or without notice, you still need to go through the steps of a chambers application.

  • File your Form F31 (PDF) — Notice of Application and your  Form F30 (PDF) — Affidavit. You will put in the date that the judge gave you at your short notice hearing.
  • File your application record. For more information about this, see Justice Education Society’s “Prepare the Application Record.”

In a family law case, you need to attend a Judicial Case Conference before you file the Notice of Application, unless you qualify for an exemption. The exceptions are listed in Rule 7-1(3). Have a look at the list to see if you qualify. If you’ve already attended a JCC, you can make the application whenever you’d like.

If you don’t qualify for an exemption, a book in our collection called British Columbia Family Practice Manual (“Chapter 11: Obtaining Court-ordered Interim Relief”) says you ask for one using Form F18.1 (PDF) —  Requisition — General (Application). You can file this form and your short notice requisition at the same time. You can come to a Courthouse Libraries BC location during our open hours to use CLE Online to view an example of this form.

For a short notice application, you don’t need to serve the other party eight days before the hearing like you do for a regular application, but you do still need to serve them to let them know that the hearing is happening and when. The judge will give you information about when you need to serve the other party at your short notice hearing.

There are instructions for serving documents in Part 6 of the Supreme Court Family Rules.

Urgent applications without notice

In some cases, you might need to make an application for an order with no notice at all. This isn’t very common and is usually if you can’t find the other party or are afraid they will hurt you or someone else. Sometimes these are called an ex parte application. For more information, see “Making an application without notice” in JP Boyd’s Interim Applications and Supreme Court Family Law Proceedings.

The rules for applications without notice are in Rule 10-9 of the Supreme Court Family Rules. Rule 10-9(6) says urgent orders can also be made without notice.

You will use the same forms as you do for filing an urgent application. Sometimes the courts will let you file an application where no notice is required but the matter is not urgent, for things like alternate service or changing parties. The rules for these applications are in Rule 10-8 of the Supreme Court Family Rules. Rule 10-8 does not apply to urgent matters.

You don’t need to serve the other party before the chambers hearing, but after the hearing you still need to give the Notice of Application, supporting documents, and any orders to the other party so they know an order has been made. They can disagree with the order and make their own application to change or dismiss it.

Protection orders

Another order you may want to file quickly is a restraining order, also known as a protection order in family law. If you need to file a protection order against a family member, please see " Chapter 4: Family Law Protection Orders” in For Your Protection: Peace Bonds and Family Law Protection Orders.

Guides to chambers applications

There are several helpful guides to completing family law applications online:

The instructions for Chambers application procedure are in Part 10 of the Supreme Court Family Rules:

Helpful resources

  • Supreme Court Family Rules Forms (Government of British Columbia): This page includes all the Supreme Court Family forms, as fillable PDFs, for a family law case.
  • British Columbia Family Practice Manual (Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia): This detailed manual is available to use onsite on computers and in hard copy at Courthouse Libraries across BC.
  • Family law in BC (Justice Education Society): This website has a wide range of family law information from basic fact sheets to self-help kits and sample court forms.

Helpful services

  • Family duty counsel: These are family lawyers who may be available at your courthouse to provide free legal advice or other help.
  • Amici Curiae (AC) Friends of Court: Their volunteers can help with completing court forms. Book an appointment on their website.
  • Courthouse Libraries BC: We are a network of libraries in BC courthouses where you can access public computers, books and other print materials, and legal databases. Reach us at 1-800-665-2570 or email librarian@courthouselibrary.ca.
  • Family Justice Centres: The counsellors at Family Justice Centres provide services to British Columbians going through separation or divorce. They can help with support issues.
  • Find more services.