What Is a Consent Order in Alberta Family Court?
This answer covers the law of Alberta.
A consent order is a court order that puts terms you and the other person have already agreed on into formal form. Parents who agree on custody or parenting time, child support or spousal or partner support can have those terms made into a Consent Order.
Your agreement cannot be filed on its own, and it cannot change an existing court order. In the Court of King's Bench, you choose the info pack for your issue and complete the Consent Order and Ex Parte Application. Both of you sign in front of one or two witnesses, and each completes an Affidavit of Execution before a Commissioner of Oaths. After a judge signs, you file the original plus two copies with the clerk and give the filed copy to the other party.
Where you file matters. In Edmonton, the judge's signature comes through a court forms information coordinator and a Child Support Data Sheet is also required, while elsewhere it is obtained in Morning Chambers. If you apply to reduce support, the payor keeps paying the existing amount until a court makes an order. A lawyer can confirm which forms suit your situation.
Key takeaways
- Parents who agree on custody or parenting time, child support or spousal or partner support can have those terms made into a Consent Order.
- An agreement cannot be filed on its own with the court and cannot be used to change an existing court order.
- In King's Bench, both of you sign in front of one or two witnesses and each completes an Affidavit of Execution before a Commissioner of Oaths.
- If you apply to reduce support, the payor keeps paying the existing amount until a court makes an order.