Until this spring, the Provincial Court registry in Kelowna was a “family justice registry”, with its own set of steps for starting a family case. An amendment to the Provincial Court Family Rules (B.C. Reg. 17/2026) ended that status for Kelowna and Nanaimo on May 1, 2026; Vancouver’s Robson Square registry had made the same change on November 1, 2025. Kelowna is now listed among the province’s 46 early resolution registries.
For a parent or spouse starting a new case at Kelowna, that means the early resolution requirements in Part 2 of the rules. A case already started at Kelowna under the family justice registry rules keeps going under those rules (Rule 200). If you began a case before May and are unsure which track it is on, the file itself will show it; ask us to check before you take the next step.
The early resolution steps themselves, under Rules 10 and 11:
- Whoever is seeking an order starts by filing Form 1, the notice to resolve, and serving the other side with a copy.
- Both people meet a family justice counsellor for an individual needs assessment.
- Both complete the parenting education course; the needs assessor can excuse it, for instance where it was done within the last two years or all the children are adults.
- Both attend one or more consensual dispute resolution sessions (mediation is the usual example), unless the assessor or the dispute resolution professional rules it out as inappropriate.
An application can be filed once those steps are done, and the responding party must finish them before filing a reply. If one side refuses to engage, the other may proceed after meeting the requirements (Rule 21). Rule 12 lists applications that skip the process, among them those confined to protection orders, priority parenting matters, relocation, consent orders, case management and enforcement, and Rule 14 allows a protection order or priority parenting order to be sought before the steps are finished.
In Kelowna, the counsellors who run these steps work at the Kelowna Family Justice Centre, 119 – 565 Bernard Avenue, a few blocks from the courthouse. The Province’s page for the centre (updated September 2, 2026) says it provides early resolution registry services for the Kelowna Provincial Family Court registry, that its counsellors are accredited mediators, and that its services are free. In-person service runs Tuesday to Thursday, with Monday virtual only; check the page before you go. Our lawyers can get you ready for the assessment and the mediation, and look over a proposed agreement before you sign.
Two details are easy to miss. First, “consensual dispute resolution” is defined in the rules to include three things: mediation with a family law mediator qualified as a family dispute resolution professional, a collaborative family law process, or, for a support dispute, facilitated negotiation with a child support officer of the Province’s Family Justice Services Division. You are not limited to the centre’s own mediation. Second, the Province describes the first court appearance after these steps as a family management conference, held to keep the dispute moving toward resolution and to make sure both sides are ready if a trial is needed.
When one parent lives in Kelowna and the other has moved away, the Province says its counsellors can deliver the full range of services by telephone and video, including for families separated by distance.
Two courts in the Water Street building
Kelowna Law Courts, 1 – 1355 Water Street, is home to a Provincial Court registry and a Supreme Court registry. The orders you are after decide which applies.
Guardianship, parenting time and responsibilities, contact, child and spousal support, and protection orders can all be dealt with in Provincial Court. Rule 7 picks the registry: if the same parties already have a case, it continues there; if not, a case about a child belongs at the registry closest to the home where the child lives most of the time, and any other case at the registry closest to the residence of the person filing first. For a child living in central Kelowna, the closest registry is the one on Water Street. Families living toward Lake Country or Peachland should read the rule with care, because “closest” is not defined and those towns sit between registries. Urgent applications are treated differently: under Rule 7(3), a protection order or a priority parenting matter (for example, consent to a child’s medical treatment where delay puts the child’s health at risk, or travel that a guardian says was wrongfully refused) can be brought in any registry with the court’s permission, and Rule 14 lets it go ahead before the early resolution steps are done.
A divorce order, and the division of real estate, investments, a company or a pension, require the Supreme Court. Its registry shares the Water Street building, though a Kelowna family is not obliged to file there: the notice of family claim states where trial is proposed, and the court may move it.
Moving with a child after separation
In the Okanagan, a move to Calgary, the coast or another valley town can change a child’s week completely. The Family Law Act deals with this in sections 65 to 71, and it applies where a written agreement or an order about parenting or contact is already in place.
Section 66 requires the guardian who plans to move to tell the other guardians, and each person who has contact with the child, in writing and no less than 60 days ahead, when the move will happen and where to. The court may dispense with some or all of that notice if giving it would expose someone to family violence, or if the child has no continuing relationship with the person who would receive it. Once notice is given, everyone has to make best efforts to resolve the issues the move raises. The move can go ahead on the date in the notice unless another guardian applies to prohibit it within 30 days of receiving the notice (section 68).
If the matter goes to court, the test depends on the existing arrangement. Where parenting time is not substantially equal, the moving guardian must show the move is made in good faith and that reasonable, workable arrangements are proposed to preserve the child’s other relationships; the move is then considered to be in the child’s best interests unless the other guardian satisfies the court otherwise. Where parenting time is substantially equal, the moving guardian must also prove the move is in the child’s best interests (section 69).
Where the parenting arrangements come from an order under the Divorce Act, that statute has its own notice regime (sections 16.9 to 16.93), including a 30-day window to object. Where there is no agreement or order at all, a proposed change of a child’s residence that would significantly affect the other guardian’s relationship can be a priority parenting matter in Provincial Court. Get advice before notice goes out, not after; our co-parenting responsibilities page covers parenting arrangements more broadly.
Divorce, property and support in brief
The Divorce Act requires that at least one spouse was habitually resident in BC for a full year before filing (section 3) and that the marriage has broken down, shown by a year of living separate and apart, by adultery or by cruelty. The order normally takes effect 31 days after judgment; section 12 lets a court bring that forward in special circumstances where both spouses undertake not to appeal. Our articles on filing for divorce in BC and uncontested divorce, and our divorce lawyers page, go further.
On separation, the Family Law Act gives each spouse an undivided half interest in family property and makes each equally responsible for family debt (section 81). What one spouse brought into the relationship, and what they inherited or were given by someone else, may be excluded property, but only if that spouse proves it (section 85); an increase in its value over the relationship is generally divisible. Where equal division would be significantly unfair, the Supreme Court can divide unequally (section 95). The same regime covers partners who lived in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years. Read more on property division.
Time limits apply. For married spouses, property, pension and spousal support claims must be brought within two years after the divorce order; for unmarried partners, within two years after separating (section 198(2)). That period stops running while both are engaged in family dispute resolution with a qualified professional (section 198(5)), so note when sessions start and end.
Child support follows the Federal Child Support Guidelines. For spousal support, the court asks first whether there is entitlement and then how much and for how long, and the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines are the usual reference point. Our pages on child support, spousal support and premarital and cohabitation agreements explain each.
Questions Kelowna clients ask
I filed at Kelowna before May 2026. Do the new steps apply to me?
A case started at Kelowna under the family justice registry rules continues under those rules (Provincial Court Family Rules, Rule 200). A new case started after May 1, 2026 follows the early resolution requirements. We can check your file.
Do I have to go through the Family Justice Centre before going to court?
Unless an exception applies, yes: a notice to resolve, a needs assessment, a parenting course unless exempt, and at least one dispute resolution session unless found inappropriate. Protection orders, priority parenting matters, relocation and consent orders are exceptions.
I want to move to Alberta with our child. What is the first step?
Where a parenting agreement or order is in place, the other guardian is entitled to written notice 60 days or more before the move, and then has 30 days to apply to block it. Speak to us before the notice is sent.
My former partner lives in Vancouver. Do we both have to come to Bernard Avenue?
Not necessarily. The Province says family justice counsellors can provide their services by telephone and video, including where a family is separated by distance. Ask the Kelowna centre how your assessment will be arranged.
Is the first consultation free?
No. Onyx charges an hourly rate on family files. When you call (604) 900-2538, ask what an initial meeting will cost.
