filing an answer question

[raven70]

I was in Ontario accessing my son and attending a court date where after eight hours of waiting, the 2 lawyers adjourned the matter to a settlement conference in December. With access costs for travel from B.C i must now reprenent myself. The lawyers served each other form 14a and motions shorlty before the hearing date, am i allowed to respond to the affidavit that i was served? I also noticed a form called reply, does anybody understand this process better than i do, I am the respondent.
Also if you file a response,answer or reply how would the court office know where to file it? I must be not understanding this process, thanks

[Epona]

Well, if you decide to represent yourself, you first have to fire your lawyer (not sure about how to do that or if it's a good idea since you are in BC, yet attending Ontario court).
Go to Ministry of the Attorney General - Ontario's Family Courts Structure
for an overview on the Ontario Family Court system.
To change your representation, you need to fill out (Ontario Family Court) form 4 "Notice of Change in Representation"
You can access all the forms, with directions at Family Law Rules Forms — Ontario Court Services
You can respond to the Affidavit via your lawyer. I'm sure there are "things" that make you angry in it, so a response the Judge likes needs to be short and concise and deals with the aspects relevant to the case. It's not required that you dispute every point made against you.
Every case in each court has a case file number eg 1234-01 (upper right corner of court documents). That number is the same for every case in that court between you and that particular Applicant. If there are future cases involving the same Applicant you will always be the Respondent, even if you initiate court action -- I learned that the hard way!
But I don't know how you could possibly file documents in an Ontario court house when you live in BC and be traveling back and forth between BC and Ontario for court appearances, serving documents and filing them, unless I'm missing something.

[raven70]

thanks

i have fired my lawyer before, he just sends the forms and i sign them and he serves them on the court.
filing documents from B.C has been a problem but i will need to learn the process as there is a SC in december and and 20k it is time to learn how..

regards