By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Updated
A Notice of Family Claim is the document that starts a family case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and the rule that governs your response is unusually blunt about what silence costs. This guide covers the 30-day Response, the counterclaim that runs on the same clock, and the financial statement, Form F8, that most people do not realise is due in the same window. This guide is for British Columbia. The Notice of Family Claim, the Response to Family Claim and Form F8 are Supreme Court of British Columbia procedure under the Supreme Court Family Rules. A case in the Provincial Court runs on different rules and forms. Ontario and Alberta use different documents and different deadlines again.
| What you were served with | A Notice of Family Claim, the document that starts a family law case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. |
|---|---|
| Your deadline | Within 30 days after being served, file a Response to Family Claim in Form F4 and serve a copy on the claimant. Rule 4-3(1), read from the regulation 3 Sep 2026. |
| If you do not respond | Rule 4-3(2): you are "not entitled to receive notice of any part of the family law case including, without limitation, any court appearance, hearing, conference or trial." |
| Your own claims | A counterclaim in Form F5, filed "within 30 days after being served with the notice of family claim." Rule 4-4(2). |
| Financial statement | Form F8, in parts. Which parts you must file depends on what is claimed: support, property, or both. Rule 5-1. |
| Financial statement deadline | Within 30 days after service of the document making the claim (60 if you live outside Canada or the United States). Rule 5-1(11). |
| Income documents | Three years of tax returns and assessments, recent pay statements, business or corporate financials if self-employed. Rule 5-1(1), "applicable income documents". |
| Governing rules | Rules 4-3, 4-4 and 5-1 of the Supreme Court Family Rules. |
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A Notice of Family Claim is the claimant's statement of what they want the court to order. In a divorce it will include the divorce itself and usually some combination of parenting arrangements, child support, spousal support and a division of property under Part 5 of the Family Law Act. The person who filed it is the claimant. You are the respondent.
Because the Supreme Court Family Rules deal with divorce, property and support in one proceeding, one Notice of Family Claim can carry all of them. Each claim in it is something you either accept or oppose, and the document that records your position is the Response.
Rule 4-3(1) is a single sentence: "To respond to a notice of family claim, a person must, within 30 days after being served, (a) file a response to family claim in Form F4, and (b) serve a copy of the filed response to family claim on the claimant and on the other persons named in the notice of family claim as respondents."
Three things follow from the wording.
File first, then serve the filed copy. The rule says to serve "a copy of the filed response." That means the sequence is file at the registry, then serve what the registry stamped, and both inside the 30 days.
The count starts at service. Not at filing, and not at the date on the document.
There is no longer period written into this subrule for service abroad. Unlike Ontario's 60 days, Rule 4-3(1) as it reads gives 30 days without a stated exception. If you were served outside Canada, do not assume you have more time; ask a lawyer about an extension rather than reading one in.
Most provinces' rules say that a case can proceed without a person who does not respond. British Columbia's says something more specific. Rule 4-3(2): a person served with a Notice of Family Claim "who does not file a response to family claim in accordance with subrule (1) of this rule is not entitled to receive notice of any part of the family law case including, without limitation, any court appearance, hearing, conference or trial."
Read that twice. It is not only that the case goes ahead. It is that nobody has to tell you about the hearing at which it does. A respondent who misses the 30 days can find that an order about their children, their income or their home was made at a hearing they were never told was happening, and that is not an error anyone has to correct.
If you want the court to order something the claimant did not ask for, that is a counterclaim. Rule 4-4(1) lists what it can include: a claim under the Divorce Act, a claim under the Family Law Act, a claim for annulment, and claims about property based on unjust enrichment or trust arising out of a marriage-like relationship.
The form is F5, and the timing is in Rule 4-4(2): "a party named as a respondent must file a counterclaim in Form F5 within 30 days after being served with the notice of family claim." The counterclaim is filed in addition to the Response, not instead of it.
This is where the 30 days bite hardest. The Response is a reactive document and can be drafted from the Notice of Family Claim in front of you. The counterclaim requires you to have decided what you want, and to have it in a form the court can act on, in the same month.
Rule 5-1 is the disclosure rule, and it is long because it attaches different parts of Form F8 to different claims.
Child support. Every party who must provide income information under the Child Support Guidelines files Part 1 of Form F8 together with their "applicable income documents" (Rule 5-1(4)). Where the Guidelines require the court to look at the parties' means or financial ability, or where the payor is a stepparent, Parts 2 and 3 are added (Rule 5-1(5)). A claim for special or extraordinary expenses adds Part 4 (Rule 5-1(6)); a claim of undue hardship adds Parts 5 and 6 (Rule 5-1(7)).
Spousal support. A party seeking, defending, changing or resisting a change to spousal support files Parts 1, 2 and 3 with their income documents (Rule 5-1(9)).
Property. A party making a claim under Part 5 of the Family Law Act files Part 3 (Rule 5-1(10)), and if they own real property, the most recent assessment notice for it goes with it (Rule 5-1(12)).
The income documents are defined in Rule 5-1(1), and the list is worth knowing before you start, because it is where the time goes: every personal income tax return and every notice of assessment or reassessment for the three most recent taxation years; the most recent statement of earnings showing year-to-date income if employed; three years of financial statements for a business, professional practice or controlled corporation, with a breakdown of non-arm's-length payments; partnership income for three years; trust documents for a beneficiary; and the most recent assessment notice for any real property.
Rule 5-1(3) adds a small requirement that is easy to miss and annoying to fix later: each page of the income documents to be used in court "must be numbered sequentially."
Rule 5-1(11) sets the timing, and it depends on whose claim created the obligation.
If it arises because of a claim you made, you file and serve within 30 days after service of the document in which you made it. If it arises because of a claim made against you, and you live in Canada or the United States, you file and serve within 30 days after service of the document in which the claim is made. Living outside Canada and the United States, the period is 60 days. The court can order a different period in any of these cases.
For a respondent, the document in which the claim is made is the Notice of Family Claim. So the Response and Form F8 are, for most people, due in the same 30 days, and Form F8 with three years of tax documents attached is the slower of the two.
Two provisions keep the obligation alive after the first filing. Rule 5-1(13) and (14): if a Form F8 lacks sufficient information, the other party may demand particulars, and a party who does not provide them within 7 days after receipt can be ordered to serve particulars or a new Form F8 within a specified time. Rule 5-1(15) requires information in a filed document to be kept current.
One route around the paperwork exists for child support only. Rule 5-1(8): if the parties have agreed on the payor's annual income, signed an agreement in Form F9 and filed it with the documents it refers to, they are deemed to have complied with the disclosure requirements for child support.
Write down the date and method of service. Every period on this page runs from it.
Count 30 days forward and treat it as three deadlines: the Response (Form F4), any counterclaim (Form F5), and the financial statement (Form F8, with income documents).
Read every claim in the Notice of Family Claim and mark each as agree, disagree or unsure. That is the raw material for the Response.
Start collecting the income documents today. Three years of returns and notices of assessment can be pulled from your tax account quickly; corporate and business financials cannot. If you are self-employed or own a company, your accountant's timetable is now part of your deadline.
Decide whether you have a claim of your own. If you do, the counterclaim window is the same 30 days, and it needs to say what you want with enough precision for the court to order it.
See a lawyer before the second week. With a marked-up Notice of Family Claim and a list of what you agree and disagree with, one meeting can settle the Response, identify which parts of Form F8 apply to you, and tell you whether a counterclaim is worth filing now or can wait for an amendment.
Verification note. Rule 4-4(4), on serving a filed counterclaim, was only partly read for this page and is not summarised here beyond the 30-day filing period in Rule 4-4(2); if you are filing a counterclaim, confirm the service requirements with a lawyer. This page describes Supreme Court procedure only. A family case in the Provincial Court of British Columbia runs on the Provincial Court Family Rules, with different forms and periods.
From service. Rule 4-3(1) says "within 30 days after being served." The filing date on the document is not the start of your period.
Rule 4-3(1) requires both: file, and serve a copy of the filed response on the claimant. Subrule (2) attaches its consequence to a person who does not file a response "in accordance with subrule (1)," which includes the service step. Do both, inside the period, and keep proof of service.
Rule 4-3(1) as it reads gives 30 days with no stated exception for service abroad. Rule 5-1(11) does give 60 days for the financial statement to a party living outside Canada and the United States, but that is the disclosure rule, not the Response rule. Ask a lawyer about an extension rather than assuming one.
It depends on what is claimed. Child support: Part 1 with income documents, plus Parts 2 and 3 if means are in issue, Part 4 for special expenses, Parts 5 and 6 for undue hardship. Spousal support: Parts 1, 2 and 3. Property: Part 3, with the assessment notice for any real property. Where several claims overlap, the parts add up. Rule 5-1(2) sets out which subrules apply to which claim.
Demand particulars under Rule 5-1(13). If they are not provided within 7 days of receipt, Rule 5-1(14) lets the court order particulars, or a new Form F8, within a set time.
For child support only, and only by the route in Rule 5-1(8): agree the payor's annual income, sign an agreement in Form F9, and file it with the documents it refers to. Spousal support and property claims have no equivalent shortcut in the rule.
Last reviewed September 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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