Court of King's Bench of Alberta
The Court of King's Bench is the Superior Trial Court for the Province, hearing trials in civil and criminal matters and appeals from decisions of the Court of Justice. The Chief Justice and other Justices of the Court are also judges of Surrogate Matters, which has jurisdiction over probate and administration of estate matters.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some accommodation must be made for the commissioning of affidavits in circumstances where it is not possible or is medically unsafe for the deponent to physically attend before a commissioner. Examples might include deponents who are unable to leave their residences, are not permitted to receive visitors, or for those who are required to self-isolate or self-quarantine.
With the approval of the Law Society of Alberta, until further notice, the following accommodations will be made for affidavits to be used in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, subject always to the discretion of the Courts to apply the best evidence requirements to their use:
The commissioner and the deponent must review each page of the affidavit and exhibits to verify that the pages are identical and if so, must initial each page in the lower right corner.
At the conclusion of the review, the commissioner will administer the oath, the deponent will state what needs to be said to swear or affirm the truth of the facts, and the commissioner must watch the deponent sign his or her name to the affidavit.
The deponent will then send the signed affidavit with exhibits electronically to the commissioner.
Before completing the affidavit, the commissioner must compare each page of the copy received from the deponent against the initialed copy that was before him or her in the video conference and may affix his or her name to the jurat only upon being satisfied that the two copies are identical.
The two copies will then be attached together with a certificate signed by the commissioner stating that the commissioner was satisfied that the process was necessary because it was impossible or unsafe, for medical reasons, for the deponent and the commissioner to be physically present together.
The completed package would then be permitted to be filed.
Information on Case Management in civil, family & criminal matters
Civil claims that exceed $50,000 must be heard in the Court of King’s Bench
The Commercial List was established to deal with commercial insolvency law
Criminal law involves investigating and prosecuting people who may have broken the law
Family law governs the legal aspects of relationships between family members
Information on Judicial Dispute Resolution at the Court of King's Bench
Information on the process for requesting a review of lawyers' bills or assessment of court costs.
Information on Wills, Estates, & Trusteeships that are handled at the Court of King's Bench
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