Court Services Online (CSO) is an electronic service that forms part of the
overall government strategy to provide alternative options and added convenience
for access to government services. We will continue to improve and enhance the services.
What is Court Services Online?
CSO provides the following services:
-
eSearch: View Provincial and Supreme civil court files for $6.00 per
file; View and Print Electronic Documents (if available) for $6.00 per file;
Purchase Documents $10.00;
File Summary Reports $6.00. There is no charge to view Provincial criminal and traffic files.
- Daily Court Lists: Access to daily court lists for Provincial Court small claims matters and Supreme Court Chambers. Available free of charge.
-
eFiling: Electronically file civil court documents from your home or office for $7 per filing. View the
eFiling FAQs for more information about this service.
What information can I expect to find?
Provincial and Supreme Civil Files
For a $6 service fee, you can view the details for one of the files located by your search.
Depending on a file's access restrictions, the information you will be able to view for Provincial and Supreme files includes:
- File number
- Type of file
- Date the file was opened
- Registry location
- Style of cause
- Names of parties and counsel
- List of filed documents
- Appearance details
- Terms of order
- Caveat or Dispute details
Access is based on publicly available information. Some files may offer you only limited information and in some cases none at all.
In addition, Court Services Branch has started to store documents electronically as a result of eFiling and scanning practices.
When conducting a search, users have the ability to purchase copies of documents that are currently viewable through CSO eSearch.
See below for more information on document viewing and printing.
Court of Appeal Files
For a $6 service fee, you can view details for one of the files located by your search.
Depending on a file's access restrictions, the information you will be able to view for Court of Appeal files includes:
- File number
- Type of file
- Date the file was opened
- Style of cause
- Names of parties and counsel
- List of filed documents
- Court appearance details
- Chamber appearance details
- Disposition
Provincial Traffic and Criminal Court Files
You can view details for one of the Provincial traffic and criminal court files in your search results. You can refine your search to narrow
down the results before choosing a file to view.
Depending on a file's access restrictions, you will be able to view some basic case profile for Provincial traffic and criminal court files such as:
- File number
- Type of file
- Date the file was opened
- Registry location
- Name of participant
- Charges
- Appearances
- Sentences/dispositions
- Release information
Access is based on publicly available information. Some files may offer you only limited information and in some cases none at all.
NOTE: There is no ability to view court documents within the traffic/criminal eSearch service.
Please note that eSearch does not provide access to any of the following:
- Criminal matters (Supreme)
- Provincial family files (FRA, CFCSA, FMEP, etc)
- Supreme family files (Divorce)
- Supreme adoption files
- Any Provincial or Supreme Court file subject to a judicial order restricting access
- Information from files prior to 1989
- Information on Victoria Supreme Court files prior to 2002
Electronic Documents Available For Viewing and Printing
The volume of documents available in the electronic format is limited as we continue to build our repository of electronic documents through eFiling and scanning.
The following electronic documents are available on CSO eSearch for viewing and printing:
- Supreme Court - Civil
- Writ of Summons
- Notice of Civil Claim
- Petition
- Writ of Summons
- Statement of Claim
- Statement of Defence/Reply
- Response to Civil Claim
- Counterclaim
- Third Party Notice
- Appearance
- Notice of Motion
- Notice of Application
- Orders
- Provincial Court - Small Claims
- Notice of Claim
- Reply
- Third Party Notice
- Orders
If a document is electronic, the View link will appear in the Document Request column. Users can view and print electronic documents for an additional $6 fee per file.
NOTE: There is no ability to view court documents within the traffic/criminal eSearch service
Purchase Documents Online (PDO)
Users have the ability to purchase copies of documents that are not available in an electronic format. Users will first need to eSearch the file to determine if the document
they want is on file and available to them. To purchase the document, click the Request link to access the Purchase Documents Online (PDO) service. There is an
additional $10 fee charged for each document that is purchased.
NOTE: Documents from Supreme Court files that are 12 years or older and documents for Small Claims files that are 15 years or older cannot be ordered online.
Availability of Historical Information
Information is available for Provincial and Supreme Court files from 1989 onwards for all court locations across the province.
Please note that due to changes made to case tracking systems and the associated conversions of data, there may be some variations in the quality and amount of historical data you are able to access.
Files With Limited Access
eSearch will show the style of cause, file number, and date the file was opened, but no further details for:
- Supreme Family files (Divorce)
- Any Provincial or Supreme file subject to a judicial order restricting access
Files That Are Not Available
eSearch will not provide any information about:
- Criminal matters (Supreme)
- Provincial Family files (FRA, CFCSA, FMEP, etc)
- Supreme Adoption files
- Information from files prior to 1989
- Information on Victoria Supreme Court files prior to 2002
Why should I register for a CSO subscription account?
Registration to access the search services is optional. Future services may require registration. We suggest that
you register for a CSO subscription account if you are going to be a regular user of eServices. A CSO subscription
account provides additional access privileges to enable you to use CSO services. It also enables you to register a
credit card which can be used to pay for the service fees. The credit card is registered in a secure and encrypted
Internet site, which is provided and managed by the Provincial Treasury. Only VISA, Visa Debit, MasterCard, MasterCard Debit
American Express (AMEX) and Interac Online
are currently accepted. If you do register a credit card and create additional users under your account, then you control
who is authorized to charge the services to your credit card. Optionally each user under your account can register their
own credit card. If a credit card has been registered, then you will not be required to enter your credit card information
at the point of accessing the service. This streamlines the processing and reduces the need to keep your credit card
information handy each time you use the service. If you are unsure if you have a registered credit card, then you should
check your profile by accessing My Profile.
How do I register for a CSO subscription account?
Currently, with eSearch, you are not required to register for a CSO subscription account. Registration provides the added
convenience of registering a credit card to pay for the use of the service and allows you to access monthly statements of
service usage. eFiling requires a registered subscription which can be either a Business BCeID or BC Registries and Online Service account.
Registering With Court Services Online
If you have accessed other Government of British Columbia electronic services before, you may already have one
of these account types:
- Business BCeID -- for businesses
- Basic BCeID -- for individuals
- BC Registries and Online Services
These accounts make it possible for you to use a single User ID and password to sign in securely to any
participating Government of British Columbia website. Court Services Online (CSO) is a participating site, so
you will need to have one of these accounts in order to register with CSO. Once you have obtained your BCeID
or BC Registries and Online Service account you can use the CSO Registration functionality located on
our CSO home page. This will take you through the necessary steps to complete an online registration. You will
be requested to provide information about yourself and the account that you wish to establish.
Once you register with CSO, your CSO Client ID becomes tied to your premium BC Registries and Online Service
account, Business BCeID or Basic BCeID. Therefore, to login to CSO you only need to use your BC Registries
and Online Service or BCeID account name and password.
At the end of the Registration process you will be provided with your CSO Client ID and your subscription
account number. All service transactions will be tracked against your CSO Client ID under your subscription
account. This enables you to obtain monthly statements and receipts for services rendered.
What are the Hours of Service?
The CSO service is available 7x24 with the exception of regularly scheduled times that are used to maintain or change the service.
Note: Documents that are electronically submitted prior to 4:00 p.m. on a business day will be deemed to be filed on the same
day, and any documents submitted after 4:00 p.m. will be deemed to be filed the following business day. It is important that
clients are aware of the fact that although they can submit documents 24/7, the registry still operates in accordance with the
Supreme Court Rules, of 9:00a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Contact Information
CSO Website Service Enquiries for BC Registries and OnLine Services users:
Toll Free within Canada: 1-800-663-6102 .
General Enquiries:
CSO Support - Courts.CSO@gov.bc.ca
Hours of Operation: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm - Monday to Friday except Statutory Holidays
What are the minimum system requirements to use Court Services Online?
The minimum system requirements to use Court Services Online are:
Intel based PC
- 133 MHz or higher processor
- 64 Mb or higher memory
- Browser: Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome
Apple
- iMac
- Browser: Safari, Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome
These are the minimum requirements to effectively use CSO. Performance will be improved by using a more powerful processor, more memory, or a more recent release of a browser.
Browser upgrades can be downloaded from Microsoft at no charge. For more information refer to http://www.gov.bc.ca/com/down.
To obtain optional reports generated by CSO, Adobe Acrobat Reader version 6.0 or higher is required. This software can be downloaded at no charge from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html.
As with any eService application, response time is impacted by the nature and quality of your Internet and network connections. Cable and ADSL high-speed connections are likely to provide the fastest response times. If you are using a dial-up connection over a regular phone line you will likely experience slower response times.
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