News & Announcements

Effective June 15, 2022, applications for most grants typically issued in connection with surrogate matters will require completion of new Grant Application (GA) forms. Order in Council 356/2021, available on the Alberta Queen’s Printer website, amends the Surrogate Rules effective June 15, 2022 by, among other things, repealing the Non-contentious (NC) Forms and replacing them with the GA forms.

A revised Court of Queen’s Bench Family Practice Note 6, providing additional clarity and direction in respect of inter-jurisdictional child custody and inter-jurisdictional parental abduction applications, will come into effect on July 1, 2022.

Court of Queen’s Bench Administration has extended the cap on email, digital and fax filing fees until October 31, 2022. In addition to regular filing fees, documents that are filed digitally, by email or by fax will be charged at the rate of $1 per page, capped to a maximum of $20.

The Alberta Courts are piloting a system for completing Gladue Report Request forms through an online portal. Les tribunaux de l’Alberta lancent un projet pilote constitué d’un processus permettant de faire une demande en ligne de rapport Gladue.

Effective June 15, 2022, Alberta lawyers will be able to file applications for certain types of grants in surrogate matters using the online Surrogate Digital Service (SDS). An instruction page for the use of SDS, including a list of key dates for counsel, is now available, here: https://surrogate.alberta.ca/.

The Court of Appeal of Alberta, Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, and Provincial Court of Alberta, have released a new Court Information Access Guide for Alberta. The CIAGA replaces the former Alberta Courts Public and Media Access Guide and applies to all proceedings in the Alberta courts. Lawyers, members of the public, and media wanting to access court information should familiarize themselves with the new CIAGA.

Effective June 15, 2022, applications for most grants typically issued in connection with surrogate matters will require completion of new Grant Application (GA) forms. Members of the Law Society of Alberta will also be permitted to apply for certain types of grants using an electronic system called the Surrogate Digital Service. For further details, please refer to the full announcement.

UPDATED Announcement : A designated naming convention must be followed for all emails sent to the Court of Queen’s Bench which contain documents for filing. If the naming convention as outlined is not followed, your documents will be sent back to you unfiled, advising you did not use the proper naming convention for the covering email. For full filing details, including specific naming conventions and examples, please refer to the full announcement.

A Retirement Profile of the Honourable Justice Alan D. Macleod.

The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta is engaged in a project to consolidate and clarify its processes as set out in its Practice Notes, Notices to Profession and Public, and Announcements. As a first step in this project, effective April 14, 2022, Court of Queen’s Bench Civil Practice Notes 1 and 2 will be consolidated into a new Civil Practice Note 1: Justice and Masters’ Chambers. Civil Practice Notes 3 and 6 will be consolidated into a new Civil Practice Note 3: Class Proceedings.