VICTORIA – Effective Aug. 1, 2016, the B.C. government is reinstating hearing fees for civil cases before the B.C. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Civil Rules have been amended to provide justices of the Supreme Court with the discretion to exempt parties from paying the fees, if the fees would cause an undue hardship. This amendment ensures that the hearing day fees for civil cases protect constitutional rights. At this time, hearing day fees will not be charged for family cases before the B.C. Supreme Court.

Quick Facts:

• Hearing day fees serve to partially reimburse the Province for the costs of operating Supreme Court hearings and trials.
• There are no civil hearing day fees for the first three days of a proceeding. For days four to 10, the fee is $500 per day, while for each day beyond 10, the fee is $800 per day, to be paid by the party that files the notice of trial or filed documents to set the hearings.
• Civil hearing day fee rates have been unchanged since 2010.

Learn More:

Information about reinstatement of civil hearing day fees: http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/courts/other/supreme/hearing_day_fees.htm