Table 2 
Active, newly initiated and ongoing family law cases1, by type of case2, 2023/2024 to 2024/2025 

The Civil Court Survey (CCS) includes data from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This table excludes data from Saskatchewan because of data availability, as well as data from Ontario and British Columbia because of inconsistencies in case type labelling. Criminal court cases are out of scope for this survey. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding. As a result of amendments made to the Divorce Act through Bill C-78, there have been changes in the terminology used. The act no longer uses the terms "custody" and "access" but rather "parenting time" and "decision-making responsibility" with respect to children. Parenting time and decision-making responsibility would be assigned under a parenting order. As such, the term "parenting" is used in the CCS for all fiscal years post-2021/2022. When someone other than a spouse wants time in a child's schedule to visit or communicate with the child and the parents do not agree, a court may—when it is in the child's best interests—grant a contact order to third parties, such as non-spouses, grandparents or other relatives who wish to spend time with the child. It is important to note that some provinces and territories continue to use the terms "access" and "custody." As such, in those jurisdictions, cases with access issues may be included in cases that are identified as having contact issues and may include contact or communication between children and a parent or a third party. Given that the data are derived from records originally kept for non-statistical purposes, complete survey information is not always available. For example, information related to issues, such as parenting, contact and support, may not always be available and, as such, may be under reported. Fiscal years reported in the CCS are from April 1 to March 31.