Form 17: Application for a Family Law Matter Consent Order

When to use Form 17

Form 17 is for family-law matter consent orders including parenting arrangements, child support, contact, guardianship, spousal support and property division about a companion animal, if it applies. It gives a judge the factual information needed to review an agreed order, generally on paper. It is not the standard request for a procedural case-management consent order: Rule 83 uses Form 10 for that purpose.

How to prepare Form 17

1. Confirm every party agrees to the specific terms. Enter the registry, file number (if any), party names, and relationship details.
2. Select each family-law matter covered by the proposed agreement. Complete the matching Form 17 schedules only where required; where an existing Form 3 and agreeing Form 6 are already filed, identify them as the form directs.
3. List any existing parenting, support, protection or other relevant orders and attach them when the prescribed form requests them.
4. Prepare Form 18 spelling out the agreed orders. Have the parties or their lawyers sign the draft.
5. Include the required financial, child-related or guardianship documents, then file the complete package for judicial review.

Supporting records depend on the order

For child or spousal support, the rules and schedules may require financial information in Form 4 or an acceptable agreement as to income, depending on the circumstances. For appointment as a new guardian, Rule 25(2) also describes initial consent to child-protection checks, a request for a Protection Order Registry search, and certification that a criminal record check has been initiated. These are separate from the later Guardianship Affidavit (Provincial Court Form 5) and the three record-check results required under Rule 26. The Family Law Act Regulation also calls its child-protection-check consent document “Form 5”—do not confuse the two. Read Rules 25 and 26 and the relevant Form 17 schedules rather than assuming an agreed arrangement waives disclosure requirements.

What the judge can decide

Rule 82 permits the judge to approve and sign Form 18 without attendance, require more information or an appearance, propose changes (which the parties must consent to), or reject the application with reasons. Rule 84 requires a copy of the reasons for rejection to accompany a later related consent-order application. A signed draft agreement is not itself a court order until the court approves it.

Worked example

Common mistake

Do not fill out Form 17 and assume the court will create the wording of the order for you. Rule 81 requires a draft Form 18 signed by the parties or lawyers. Vague phrases such as “reasonable visits” may be difficult to enforce; use clear, agreed terms.