Justice Reform Initiatives ~ Early Solutions, Faster Justice
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Family Justice Reform
Family Rules Reform
A new set of family rules will make the family justice system more accessible and easier to navigate. A Family Rules Working Group was struck in January 2007 to draft new rules. Its members are:
- M. Jerry McHale, Q.C.
- Justice Brian Joyce - B.C. Supreme Court
- Judge David Pendleton - Provincial Court of B.C.
- Master Barbara Young - B.C. Supreme Court
- Dinyar Marsban, QC
- Ken Downing
- Kathleen Keating
- Erin Shaw
The original mandate of the working group was to implement the recommendation of the Family Justice Reform Working Group report to draft a single set of rules for the Supreme and Provincial Courts. After several months of work, the working group concluded that drafting a single set of rules raised two significant concerns:
- In attempting to accommodate complex Supreme Court cases within a single set of rules, there was a high risk of of unnecessarily complicating the Provincial Court rules and undermining their effectiveness, particularly for unrepresented litigants.
- There are so many steps that require different rules for complex cases that they would, in effect, end up with two sets of rules again.
Accordingly, there has been a shift in the mandate of the Family Rules Working from drafting a single set of family rules to drafting a separate set of Supreme Court family rules and forms that are harmonized, to the extent possible, with the Provincial Court Family Rules.
Consultation on the rules will take place in the fall of 2007. |
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