Provincial Court or Supreme Court: which court hears my family case in British Columbia?

What only the Supreme Court can do

Divorce is a Supreme Court matter: the Divorce Act names the Supreme Court as the court for British Columbia. So is the division of family property, family debt and pensions under Parts 5 and 6 of the Family Law Act, which also means an order for exclusive occupation of the family home. Orders about a child's property belong to the Supreme Court as well, and so do orders about parentage, except where the Provincial Court needs to decide parentage to resolve another family dispute before it.

There are two narrow exceptions. The Provincial Court can decide who keeps a companion animal, and it can make a protection order that restricts a person's access to a home.

What either court can do

Both courts can make orders about guardianship, parental responsibilities, parenting time and contact, child support, spousal support and protection from family violence under the Family Law Act. Married spouses who are divorcing can ask the Supreme Court for parenting and support orders under the Divorce Act in the same proceeding as the divorce.

Fees and first steps

The Provincial Court charges no filing fees. In the Supreme Court it costs $200 to start a family case and $25 to file a response, as the fee schedule stood in November 2026.

Forty-six Provincial Court registries, including Vancouver (Robson Square), Surrey, New Westminster, Richmond, North Vancouver and Port Coquitlam, are early resolution registries. Before filing an application about a family law matter there, you file a notice to resolve, take part in a needs assessment, complete a parenting education program and attend at least one consensual dispute resolution session, unless one of the exceptions applies. Those steps are not required if you are applying only for a protection order, an order about a priority parenting matter, an order about relocation, a consent order, a case management order or an enforcement order.

When both courts are involved

Starting a case in one court does not stop a second case in the other, unless the order asked for has already been granted or refused in the first. Where cases are running in both, either court can decline to hear a matter, wait for the other court, or bring the proceedings together. In practice a person who needs a divorce or a property order as well as parenting and support orders usually puts everything in the Supreme Court.