Table 2
Distribution of caseload and court events for active civil court cases, selected issues, by type of issue, by province and territory, 2012/2013

Table summary
This table displays the results of Distribution of caseload and court activity for active civil court cases. The information is grouped by Distribution of caseload (appearing as row headers), Child custody and/or access, Child support (only), Child Protection, Uncontested divorce , Adoption, Other family related issues, Total family, Non-family and Total , calculated using percent and number units of measure (appearing as column headers).
  Child custody and/or access Child support (only) Child Protection Uncontested divorce Adoption Other family related issuesNote 1 Total family Non-family Total
Distribution of caseload  
  percent
Cases initiated prior to 2012/2013 12 3 3 6 0 10 34 66 100
Cases initiated in 2012/2013 6 2 4 9 0 13 35 65 100
Total active cases 9 3 3 7 0 12 34 66 100
Average number of court eventsNote 2  
  number
Documents filedNote 3 7.0 5.0 6.8 4.2 2.9 5.0 5.5 3.9 4.5
HearingsNote 4 2.3 1.7 3.6 0.5 0.6 1.1 1.6 0.5 0.9
JudgmentsNote 5 3.2 2.1 3.4 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.9 0.8 1.1
All court events 16.0 11.0 17.4 6.5 5.5 8.6 11.1 6.4 8.0
Distribution of court events  
  percent
Documents filedNote 3 14 3 5 7 0 13 42 58 100
HearingsNote 4 23 5 14 4 0 15 61 39 100
JudgmentsNote 5 24 5 10 6 0 10 56 44 100
All court events 18 4 7 6 0 13 48 52 100
Note 1.

Other family related cases include issues of contested divorce (with no child issues), separation, spousal support, property division, guardianship, and estate matters, among others. Two-thirds of these cases were recorded as some other family matter not specifically identified.

Return to note 1 referrer

Note 2.

Court events include case initiation, processing events such as document filings and hearings, and disposition events where all or part of a case is disposed of, including judgements, settlements, withdrawals, and dismissals.

Return to note 2 referrer

Note 3.

The number of documents filed includes any document filed or registered with, or issued by, the courts. Documents include applications, statements of claim, statements of defense and counterclaims, separation and support agreements, parenting plans, mediation reports and financial statements, court orders and divorce certificates.

Return to note 3 referrer

Note 4.

Hearings include trial hearings (before a judge) as well as appeal hearings, enforcement hearings and other hearing or conferences that move the case forward.

Return to note 4 referrer

Note 5.

Judgments include decisions made by a judge (or a magistrate), including interim orders, orders, decisions on costs or other decisions that dispose of part of or all of the case, including summary judgments, consent and default judgments.

Return to note 5 referrer

Note: Based on information provided by Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Information for New Brunswick includes partial data for courts in Moncton, for the third and fourth quarter of 2012/2013 only. Moncton represents approximately 25% of the cases in the Family Division for New Brunswick.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Civil Court Survey.
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