Divorce & Separation
How to File a Separation Agreement With the Court in BC
By SiLaw Group Family LawyersPublished Nov 13, 2026 · 6 min read
You file a BC separation agreement by attaching it to a requisition in Form F17.1 at a Supreme Court of British Columbia registry, or to a Form 26 request at a Provincial Court registry. Parenting, contact, child support and spousal support terms can be filed. Most property terms cannot.
Once filed, those terms are enforceable as if they were court orders, a step people who draft their own agreements routinely skip. SiLaw Group Family Lawyers files agreements as part of drafting and as a stand-alone task. This post covers which terms qualify, what filing changes, the steps in each court, and when it is worth doing. For the agreement itself, start with our complete guide to separation agreements in BC.
Which Parts of a Separation Agreement Can Be Filed?
Four kinds of term become enforceable as orders when filed. Under section 44(3) of the Family Law Act, a written agreement respecting parenting arrangements that is filed in the court is enforceable under the Act as if it were an order of the court. Section 58(3) says the same for a written agreement respecting contact with a child. Section 148(2) provides that a written agreement respecting child support that is filed in the court is enforceable under the Act and the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act as if it were an order of the court, and section 163(3) repeats that for a written agreement respecting spousal support.
The court rules track those sections. Rule 2-1(1) of the Supreme Court Family Rules allows a copy of a written agreement referred to in section 15, 44(3), 58(3), 148(2) or 163(3) of the Family Law Act to be filed. Rule 132 of the Provincial Court Family Rules lists the same provisions and adds agreements under section 92(e), (f) and (g) of the Act, which deal with ownership and possession of a companion animal.
Notice what is missing. Terms dividing family property and family debt under section 92 of the Family Law Act appear in neither list, apart from the companion animal provisions in the Provincial Court. Property terms remain contract terms, the power to set them aside under section 93 of the Act belongs to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and a breached property term is enforced by court application, not through an enforcement agency. Our property division pages explain those terms.
What Does Filing Actually Change?
Filing does not make the agreement binding. Section 6(3) of the Family Law Act makes an agreement respecting a family law dispute binding on the parties, and section 6(4) says that is so whether or not the agreement is filed with a court.
What filing changes is enforcement. A filed parenting or contact term is enforceable under the Family Law Act as if it were an order, which opens the Act's enforcement remedies for parenting time and contact. Our post on enforcing parenting time agreements in BC walks through those. A filed support term is enforceable under both the Family Law Act and the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act as if it were an order, which is what allows the BC Family Maintenance Agency, which now runs the province's maintenance enforcement program, to collect it. Our enforcement and FMEP page explains that program.
Filing does not put the terms beyond review. Under section 44(4) and section 58(4) of the Family Law Act, a court must set aside or replace a parenting or contact agreement that is not in the best interests of the child, and under section 148(3) of the Act it may replace a child support agreement if it would make a different order. Those powers apply whether or not the agreement is filed. Since October 1, 2026, an application in the Supreme Court of British Columbia to set aside or replace a filed agreement must be served personally, and the responding party has 14 days to respond, under Rule 10-6(2.1) and (8.1) of the Supreme Court Family Rules. Our post on the October 2026 rules change explains the new sequence.
How Do You File in the Supreme Court of British Columbia?
The steps come from Rule 2-1 and Rule 3-1 of the Supreme Court Family Rules.
- Check the agreement is signed by everyone. Section 1 of the Family Law Act defines a written agreement as one that is in writing and signed by all parties, and section 164(1) of the Act expects spousal support signatures to be witnessed.
- Complete Form F17.1, Requisition - Filing of Agreement. Rule 2-1(2) of the Supreme Court Family Rules requires a copy of the agreement to be attached to a requisition in Form F17.1 and the requisition to be filed. The form asks the filer to confirm the attached agreement is the most recent one between the parties on its subject matter, since under section 7 of the Family Law Act a later agreement revokes the parts of an earlier one it changes.
- Say whether there is an existing court case. The form also asks the filer to indicate, if applicable, that there is no court proceeding involving the parties in which an order under the Divorce Act or the Family Law Act, an annulment, an unjust enrichment claim or an adoption has been made or is being sought. If you already have a divorce file, the requisition goes in that file. If not, Rule 3-1(4.1) of the Supreme Court Family Rules says the filing starts a family law case, and Rule 3-1(4.2) names the person filing as Claimant and the other parties as Respondents. Those labels come from the rule, not from any dispute between you.
- Pay the fee. Item 7.1 of Schedule 1 of Appendix C to the Supreme Court Family Rules sets the fee for filing a written agreement under Rule 2-1 at $30, whether or not the filing starts a family law case, and section 3 of that Schedule adds $7 for electronic filing through Court Services Online. Both figures are from the consolidation current to November 3, 2026. Schedule 4 of Appendix C provides for periodic recalculation, so confirm the amount with the registry.
- Keep the stamped copy for the enforcement program and any later application.
How Do You File in the Provincial Court?
Rule 132 of the Provincial Court Family Rules allows a party to file a copy of a written agreement using Form 26, the Request to File an Agreement. The rule covers the same Family Law Act provisions as the Supreme Court of British Columbia rule, plus the companion animal terms described above, and the Provincial Court Family Rules attach no filing fee to it. The Provincial Court is the usual choice where there is no divorce and no property claim, since under section 1 of the Family Law Act it is a court for the Act's purposes only to the extent of its jurisdiction, and property division belongs to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Should You File Your Agreement at All?
Usually yes, if it contains support or parenting terms. Filing costs little and turns a promise into something an enforcement program can act on without a lawsuit, and it is the step we most often find missing when we review a self-drafted agreement.
Either party may file. Rule 132 of the Provincial Court Family Rules says a party may file, Form F17.1 is signed by the filing party or that party's lawyer, and neither rule makes filing conditional on the other party's consent.
One caution. Filing a support term does not freeze it. Child support tracks income, and a filed agreement that has gone stale can be replaced under section 148(3) of the Family Law Act. Our complete child support guide explains how the amount is reviewed.
If you are unsure whether yours was filed, our family law agreements page describes the review work, and filing an existing agreement is a task we take on as an unbundled service.
Make Sure Your Agreement Can Be Enforced
A separation agreement that cannot be enforced is a letter of good intentions. The first 30 minutes with SiLaw Group are free, by phone, video, or in person in South Surrey. Call (778) 381-9977 or Book Now for a Free Consultation.
This post is legal information, not legal advice. Rules and fees are current to the date of writing and can change.
About SiLaw Group
SiLaw Group Family Lawyers is a Surrey, BC firm practising family law and mediation. Founder Sandy Sihota is an accredited Family Law Mediator, Arbitrator and Parenting Coordinator (Law Society of BC). Articles are legal information, not legal advice.