COVID-19 and the courts: April 15 update

Courts across Canada are taking extraordinary measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19. Below is a roundup of actions courts are taking across the country.

Alberta
Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta
Undertaking and agreement for non-lawyers
To safeguard the integrity of hearings conducted via audio-conference or video-conference, the court is requiring parties to sign the Undertaking and Agreement of Non-Lawyer, which may be found among the resources on the court’s website.

Notice to the profession ⁠— temporary modification of filing requirements under Surrogate Rules in respect of application for grants
On Mar. 25, the court issued a notice to the profession and public regarding the remote commissioning of affidavits for use in civil and family proceedings during the pandemic. This more recent notice, dated Apr. 14, provides an option for the remote commissioning of certain required documents in relation to applications for grants of probate and administration, on account of the challenges in complying with execution and filing requirements that have arisen in light of COVID-19. The requirements for NC 1 and NC 2, which include the original signature of the applicant, have been temporarily modified. The notice describes these changes in detail.

Nova Scotia
Provincial Court of Nova Scotia and Youth Justice Court
Telephone pre-trial and resolution conferences
The court’s website now features certain documents relevant to pre-trial and resolution conferences being conducted via telephone, such as the form to request telephone pre-trial or resolution conference, the pre-trial conference report and the complex case pre-trial conference report.