Urgent Family Court Hearings in BC Explained

Author: SiLaw Group Family Lawyers
Date: Apr 17, 2020
Updated: Jul 17, 2020
Read time: 2 min read

Archival note (updated August 2026): This article describes the situation as of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Court operations have long since returned to normal. It is preserved for reference; for current procedures, see our recent articles or contact us.

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Were the BC courts ever closed to everyone?

No. In the spring of 2020 we received a steady stream of inquiries about the BC courts being closed because of the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many people had an issue that felt like it could not wait. During that period the courts were closed to regular business, but never to everyone — both levels of court kept a route open for matters that could not wait.

The Supreme Court of British Columbia suspended all regular operations effective March 19, 2020, and its archived COVID-19 announcements record that "members of the public who do not have urgent business before the court are discouraged from attending any courthouse" while "it is a constitutional imperative that the courts must remain open." The Provincial Court did the same through NP 19, its Notice to the Profession and Public on court operations during COVID-19, issued March 19, 2020 and effective March 25, 2020.

Those emergency arrangements are long gone. The Supreme Court's request-for-hearing process for urgent and essential civil, family and insolvency matters was discontinued on July 13, 2020, when all Supreme Court registries reopened for in-person services and regular processes resumed. The Provincial Court removed references to its own urgent-hearing process from NP 19 on the same date. NP 19 was last amended effective April 11, 2022 and expired on July 18, 2022.

How a judge decided whether a matter was urgent

At the time, people were dealing with issues regarding parenting arrangements, support, and even protection related scenarios. A party who believed their matter required an urgent hearing submitted a request with copies of their materials. A judge — or, in the Supreme Court, a master, the title that was changed to "associate judge" on January 15, 2024 — assessed whether it was an "urgent" issue requiring a decision, and once that was satisfied the matter proceeded most likely via telephone conference. In 2020 the Honourable Judge Lee set out the test for an urgent hearing:

[5] NP 19 states that if a judge determines that a matter is urgent, then it may proceed to a hearing, conducted by way of teleconference only. Urgent matters may include the following:

a) Requests for urgent relief relating to the safety of a child or parent;

b) Requests to obtain or set aside protection orders, or urgent orders involving parenting time, contact with a child or communication between parties;

c) Urgent issues that must be determined relating to the well-being of a child including essential medical decisions or issues relating to relocation, non-removal, wrongful removal or retention of a child;

d) Applications to suspend, change or cancel any order for imprisonment or committal pursuant to the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act;

e) In a child protection case, all matters, including applications for supervision orders and for extension of time, and any other urgent motions or hearings; and

f) Urgent cases where irreparable harm will occur if the application is not heard.

You can read the decision in full on CanLII: J.W. v. C.H., 2020 BCPC 52.

Why this still matters

The COVID-19 request process described above no longer exists, and nobody today needs to wait for restrictions to be lifted. What has outlasted it is the shape of the analysis. Courts draw a line between a matter that is important to you and one where a child's safety, a protection order, or an imminent removal of a child makes the delay itself the harm — and that second category is what gets moved to the front of the queue.

If that describes your situation, our guide to family protection orders in BC explains what a judge can order and how to apply, and our post on protection orders when a parent ignores court orders covers what happens when an existing order is being disregarded. For how parenting schedules were handled during the same period, see our archived post on parenting arrangements during COVID-19.

Talk to a Surrey Family Lawyer

If you think your family matter needs to be heard quickly, the lawyers at SiLaw Group Family Lawyers & Mediators can assess it and tell you what the court is likely to treat as urgent. Call (778) 381-9977 or book a free 30-minute consultation with a Surrey family lawyer, by phone, by video, or in person at our Surrey office.