BC Small Claims Court Forms — Notice of Claim (Form 1) and What to File

The Forms You Need for a BC Small Claim

BC Provincial Court uses standardized forms identified by number and a publication code (the SCL series). Not every form is required at filing — some come into play later when you serve the claim, attend conferences, or go to trial.

Here are the core forms in order of when you are likely to need them:

All forms are available as fillable PDFs from the BC government website and through Court Services Online (CSO).

How to Fill Out the Notice of Claim (Form 1)

Form 1 is the document that starts your lawsuit. Getting it wrong means a rejected filing and a wasted $7 CSO transaction fee (if filing online). Here is what each section requires:

Your information (the claimant): Your full legal name, mailing address, phone number, and email. If you are an incorporated business, use its exact legal name. If you are a sole proprietor, use the owner's legal name and identify the business name if applicable.

The defendant's information: The defendant's full legal name and address. If the defendant is an incorporated company, you must use the exact corporate name from the BC Corporate Registry, not the storefront name. Attach a current corporate search printout when suing a company — the registry will reject the filing without it.

The claim itself: A clear, numbered description of what happened, what the defendant did or failed to do, and the dollar amount you are claiming. Keep it factual. You do not need legal terminology, but you do need enough detail that the defendant can understand exactly what is alleged.

The remedy: The specific dollar amount you want, broken into categories if applicable (deposit, repair costs, lost wages).

Filing Form 38 — Address for Service

Form 38 goes in at the same time as your Notice of Claim. It tells the court and the other party where to send legal documents to you. This can be a residential address, a business address, or a lawyer's office. If you accept service by email, note that on the form — it simplifies document exchange later in the process.

The BC Small Claims Filing Assistant

Court Services Online offers an interactive Filing Assistant that walks you through Form 1 with guided questions. It generates a completed Notice of Claim based on your answers, which you can review and submit electronically. The Filing Assistant handles the formatting and section labels, but you still need to provide accurate information about the defendant's legal name, the claim amount, and the facts.

The Filing Assistant charges the standard $156 filing fee (for claims over $3,000) plus a $7 CSO transaction fee. If the registrar accepts a filing received by 4:00 p.m. on a day the registry is open, it is deemed filed that day; if received after 4:00 p.m. or on a day the registry is closed, it is deemed filed the next day the registry is open.

Common Mistakes That Get Forms Rejected

• Wrong defendant name: Suing "Mike's Plumbing" instead of "Michael Chen d.b.a. Mike's Plumbing" or "Mike's Plumbing Services Ltd." makes your judgment unenforceable against the business's assets.
• Missing corporate search: When suing a company, the registry requires an attached BC Registries corporate search printout showing the legal name, status, and registered office.
• Filing at the wrong registry: Form 1 must be filed at the registry nearest to where the defendant lives or carries on business, or where the event occurred — not your own nearest registry.
• Exceeding file size limits on CSO: Electronic documents must be text-searchable PDFs, portrait orientation, scanned at 300 DPI or lower, and under 8 MB per file.

Our BC Provincial Court Small Claims guide includes step-by-step instructions for completing every form in the process, from the initial Notice of Claim through the Trial Statement.

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