Certain family situations cannot wait for the ordinary pace of the court process, as when a parent learns that the children are to be taken out of the province for the weekend, when a spouse needs the other out of the home before matters turn dangerous, when an Emergency Protection Order is to be reviewed within nine working days, or when guardians cannot agree on the school where a child must be registered on Monday. In each case, the law allows the matter to be put before a justice within days, and Keystone Legal brings these applications at the Calgary Courts Centre.
Since January 2, 2026, family matters in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta have been handled under the Family Focused Protocol, which routes most applications through a mandatory intake and settlement process before a justice makes any contested decision. The Court makes an exception to that ordinary course for urgent matters. The Court treats a matter as urgent where there is a risk of violence or immediate harm to a party or a child, including an application for exclusive possession of the family home on that basis; where there is a risk that a child will be removed from Alberta; where an Emergency Protection Order is up for review; and where a question of parenting time, contact or communication with a child cannot reasonably be delayed. An urgent request that meets that definition is reviewed by a duty justice, with the Court’s published processing time of 24 to 48 business hours, after which a hearing is set.
Because urgent applications are decided first on the written record, the affidavit and the draft order carry most of the weight. The firm’s work on an urgent file begins with the facts that establish urgency under the Court’s definition, then the evidence that supports the specific order being sought, then the procedural steps that put the matter in front of a justice: the commencing document, the urgent request, service on the other side where notice is required, and attendance at the hearing in person at the Calgary Courts Centre. Where the other side has brought the urgent application, the same discipline applies to the response, which in these cases usually has to be filed within days.
Contested matters proceed at the Calgary Courts Centre, where counsel appears in person, and advisory and uncontested work is available anywhere in Alberta. Urgent applications are taken for clients in Calgary and in surrounding communities, including Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Canmore and Rocky View County, where the matter proceeds through that courthouse. The practice is virtual, so meetings take place by video, telephone and email, with in-person meetings available on request in Cochrane or in Calgary. Advice is given in English or in French. If your matter is urgent, call (587) 328-3328 and say so; urgent matters are given priority in the firm’s schedule.
Urgent applications the firm handles
1. Emergency Parenting Orders: An urgent parenting order, often called emergency custody, where a child’s arrangements cannot wait for the ordinary process.
2. Emergency Protection Orders: Obtaining an EPO and preparing for the King’s Bench review that follows within nine working days.
3. EPO Review Hearings: Responding when you have been served with an Emergency Protection Order.
4. King’s Bench Protection Orders: The longer-term protection order under the Protection Against Family Violence Act, for up to one year.
5. Restraining Orders: Protection from harassment, threats and stalking where the other person is not a family member.
6. Exclusive Possession of the Family Home: Who stays in the home after separation is decided under the Family Property Act.
7. Urgent Relocation and Non-Removal Orders: Stopping a move with a child before it happens and responding when you are the parent who needs to move.
8. School Enrolment and Decision-Making Disputes: When guardians disagree on a school, a treatment or another significant decision and a deadline is coming.
9. Passport and Travel Consent Disputes: When the other parent will not sign for a passport or consent to travel.
10. Denied Parenting Time and Enforcement Orders: Enforcing a parenting order that the other parent will not follow.
11. Preservation Orders and Urgent Financial Relief: Holding property in place and securing interim support while the case proceeds.
12. Without Notice (Ex Parte) Applications: Orders made before the other side is heard, and what to do when you are served with one.
How an urgent application works in the Court of King’s Bench
1. An action must exist or be started. That means a Statement of Claim, a Family Law Claim (Form FL-10), or an Originating Application.
2. The Court’s Urgent Request form is submitted by email together with the commencing document, the draft application marked with a “TBD” court date, and the supporting affidavit. A request made with notice must be copied to the other party.
3. A duty justice reviews the request. The Court’s published processing time is 24 to 48 business hours. Where an intake justice has already been assigned to the family, the request goes to that justice instead.
4. If the request is accepted, the Court emails its directions, and the hearing is scheduled. The applicant serves the Court’s decision on the other side.
5. The hearing proceeds on the affidavit evidence, with both sides present unless the Court has allowed the application to proceed without notice, in which case a return date is set for the other side to be heard.
Questions people ask about urgent applications
The Court of King’s Bench defines an urgent family matter as one involving a risk of violence or immediate harm to a party or a child (including exclusive possession applications on that basis), a risk that a child will be removed from the jurisdiction, an Emergency Protection Order review, or a question of parenting time, contact or communication with a child that cannot reasonably be delayed. A protection order or restraining order that is about to expire also qualifies.
The Court’s published processing time for an urgent request is 24 to 48 business hours, after which it sets the hearing. How soon the hearing itself takes place depends on the Court’s schedule and the nature of the emergency. An Emergency Protection Order is different: it is granted by a justice of the Alberta Court of Justice or a justice of the peace, often the same day, and reviewed in the Court of King’s Bench within nine working days.
Only where the situation justifies it, such as a risk of harm to a child or a risk that a child will be removed from Alberta. Otherwise, the other party is entitled to notice; the urgent request must be copied to them, and they are entitled to respond. An order made without notice is temporary, and the Court sets a date for the other side to be heard.
You are not required to have one. Urgent matters are decided quickly and on the written record, and the interim order made at an urgent hearing tends to set the terms the family lives with until the matter is finally resolved, which is why the quality of the affidavit and the draft order matters so much at this stage.
Contested matters proceed at the Calgary Courts Centre, where counsel appears in person, and advisory and uncontested work is available anywhere in Alberta. That includes Calgary and the surrounding communities of Cochrane, Airdrie, Chestermere, Okotoks, Canmore and Rocky View County.
If your matter cannot wait, call (587) 328-3328. For anything that is not urgent, book a confidential consultation.
