Which court a Pitt Meadows case goes to
Pitt Meadows has no courthouse and no Family Justice Centre of its own. The closest courthouse is the Port Coquitlam Law Courts at 2620 Mary Hill Road, about 9 km from City Hall, where both the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court have registries. The New Westminster Law Courts on Carnarvon Street are the other nearby Supreme Court location.
The two courts divide the work. Parenting, guardianship, contact and both kinds of support can go to the Provincial Court. A divorce, and the division of property and pensions (a companion animal aside), can only come from the Supreme Court, which can also decide the parenting and support issues within the same case.
Provincial Court registry. The Provincial Court Family Rules fix the filing registry. A case already open between the same parties continues where it is. A new one is filed at the registry nearest the child’s usual residence; if no child issue is involved, nearest the residence of whichever party files first. For most Pitt Meadows homes that will be Port Coquitlam, yet the answer turns on where the child really lives and on any earlier file, and the rules give no method for measuring distance. Check with the registry before filing.
Supreme Court registry. Here there is no residence rule at all. Port Coquitlam has run a full Supreme Court registry since June 9, 2025, and New Westminster is the alternative. Whoever starts the case picks a place of trial in the claim; the court may later alter it or move the file. Convenience usually decides: the distance for both spouses and for witnesses.
Steps the Provincial Court expects before an application
Since November 1, 2024 the Port Coquitlam Provincial Court registry has operated as an early resolution registry. In the ordinary case, someone wanting an order there on parenting, guardianship, contact or support must first file a Notice to Resolve (Form 1) and give the other side a copy, meet a family justice counsellor for a needs assessment, finish a parenting education course, and try at least one mediation or similar session. The other party has the same steps to complete before replying.
These requirements have exceptions. Protection orders and priority parenting matters can be applied for straight away, and an application limited to relocation, consent terms, case management or enforcement skips the steps. The needs assessor may waive the course (spousal support alone, or children all aged 19 or over, are two examples) and may find mediation unsuitable or unavailable. The rules list a few narrower exceptions as well, so check with us or the Family Justice Centre before assuming every step applies. Mention any safety worry at the outset.
Assessments and mediation are free through the Family Justice Centre next to the courthouse (2610 Mary Hill Road, 604-927-2217), in person or remotely. Counsellors there inform rather than advise. Your own lawyer can tell you how an offer compares with a likely court result, and once you have done your part, the application can proceed even if talks fail. Our family mediation lawyers prepare clients for these sessions and can attend with them.
Parenting after separation
The older words custody and access are gone: provincial law uses guardianship, parental responsibilities and parenting time, and federal divorce law refers to decision-making responsibility. Where arrangements are contested, we can work with child experts, physicians and therapists so the child’s needs are in front of the decision-maker. Our co-parenting responsibilities page explains the terms.
Relocation is governed separately once an agreement or order about parenting or contact exists. The provincial scheme (Family Law Act, ss.65 to 71) generally requires a guardian whose move could significantly affect the child’s relationships to give 60 days’ written notice of the date and destination, after which an objector has 30 days to apply; notice can be dispensed with where it would expose someone to family violence. A parenting order made under the Divorce Act brings that Act’s own relocation sections into play instead. Get advice on which scheme fits before sending or answering a notice.
Getting divorced, and the clock on property claims
Sorting out the divorce can usually wait, but its date matters. Under section 198(2) of the Family Law Act, a claim to divide property, debt or a pension, or for spousal support, must be started “no later than 2 years after” the divorce judgment for a married couple, or after the date of separation for a couple who lived in a marriage-like relationship. Parenting and child support have no such limit. Time stops running while the spouses are in family dispute resolution with a qualifying professional, yet the dates of that process are easy to argue about later; write them down and get advice before counting on it. A couple who never married are spouses after two years in a marriage-like relationship, or earlier for support if they have a child together. Our articles on the time to claim assets after separation and when unmarried partners count as spouses say more.
Support when income comes from self-employment, a business or a farm
The court can look at income over the last three years where one year would not be fair, can add some of a corporation’s pre-tax income where the parent is a shareholder, director or officer, and can impute income where, for example, expenses are deducted unreasonably or property is not reasonably used to earn income. Owning farmland does not in itself set a support figure in either direction. A self-employed parent must give financial statements for the business for the last three tax years.
Property, and keeping it in place while a claim is decided
Assets owned before the relationship, inheritances and third-party gifts are excluded property; the burden of showing that lies on whoever asserts it, and increases in their value over the relationship are shared. Our property division page and our overview of dividing family property in BC go further; on inherited assets, see when an inheritance becomes family property and joint family ventures.
If there is a risk that land, a business interest or savings will be sold or moved before the division, section 91 of the Family Law Act gives a remedy, but only in the Supreme Court, only to a spouse, and only for property at issue in a claim to divide property or a pension. Once those conditions are met, the court must restrain the other spouse from disposing of the property unless that spouse shows the claim will not be defeated or harmed. The application is one of the few that may be brought before a judicial case conference, and the Act allows the court to make the order before the other spouse is served or to require notice first. It is still not a shortcut: the property must be at issue in a property or pension claim, the other spouse can answer by showing the claim will not suffer, and orders made without notice can later be revisited, so plan it with a lawyer.
Farmland as family property
The City’s Agricultural Viability Strategy puts about 78 per cent of Pitt Meadows’ land area, some 6,356 hectares, inside the Agricultural Land Reserve. That is a measure of land area, and it says nothing about how many separating couples own farmland. When a separating couple does hold reserve land, a farm business or an interest in a family farm, a few points change the analysis.
Land that came from one spouse’s family is often excluded property, but the rise in its value during the relationship is shared. In limited cases the court may also divide excluded property itself where not doing so would be significantly unfair, taking into account the length of the relationship and factors such as a spouse’s direct contribution to running or improving it. Animals kept for farming or as part of a business are not treated as companion animals and are divided with the other property. A farm business, its equipment and its debts usually need their own valuation.
The City’s strategy also reports that only 28 of 140 Pitt Meadows farms had a written succession plan in 2021. A family that wants land kept on one side can use a marriage or cohabitation agreement to record what each partner brought in.
Our family law team
Judith A. Janzen and Candace Cho, KC joined forces in 2012. Judith leads the family law practice, and the family team includes:
- Judith A. Janzen, principal lawyer, who leads the family practice (called to the BC bar in 2000)
- Rupinder Shoker, associate counsel (2011), a trial lawyer with appearances in the Provincial Court, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal
- Susan Kim, associate counsel (2000), family law and estate litigation, including clients with property and businesses in several countries
- Katya Richardson, associate counsel (2018), family law and estate litigation, including limited-scope retainers for clients who run their own case
- Rasjovan Dale, associate counsel (2018)
- Mason Heller, associate lawyer (2019), with experience in excluded property claims and retroactive support following non-disclosure
- Shivleen Sidhu, associate lawyer, family law (2019)
- Louisa Ledesma, associate lawyer (2024), family law and estate litigation
Everyone else at the firm is listed on the team page.
Common questions
Will our case be heard in Port Coquitlam?
In the Provincial Court, a new case goes to the registry closest to the child’s main home, or the first filer’s home if no child issue is raised, and an existing case stays where it is; for most Pitt Meadows families that points to Port Coquitlam. In the Supreme Court, no rule ties a Pitt Meadows address to a registry; Port Coquitlam and New Westminster are the two nearby options. Confirm with the registry before filing.
Do we have to try mediation before seeing a judge?
Usually, for a Provincial Court application about parenting or support at Port Coquitlam. There are exceptions, including protection orders, priority parenting matters, relocation and consent orders, and the needs assessor can decide mediation is not appropriate.
We never married. How long do we have to claim property or spousal support?
Two years from the date you separated, if you lived together in a marriage-like relationship for at least two years. Get advice early rather than relying on the suspension for dispute resolution.
The farm came from my spouse’s parents. Can I claim part of it?
The land itself may be excluded property, but any growth in its value during the relationship is family property, and in limited cases the court can divide excluded property where leaving it out would be significantly unfair. The answer depends on the facts and on how the land is held.
