May 15 2025 | Publications

Updated Policies and Procedures – Surrogate Case Conferences

On March 26, 2025, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta issued an announcement setting out updates following a pilot program that launched in 2019 in relation to Estate Case Conferences, which were established to promote the early and cost-effective resolutions of estate disputes and litigations. This article will provide an overview of the updates that were announced by the Court.

Name Change

The first notable change was that the name, “Estate Case Conferences”, was changed to Surrogate Case Conferences (“SCCs”), which was done in order to reduce the confusion with Early Intervention Case Conferences that were held in family law proceedings, and to reinforce that SCCs were available at any stage during the surrogate process.

Access to SCCs and Scheduling

The Court confirmed that, by filing a Statement of Claim or an Application with Form C1, the parties can apply to schedule SCCs, that they are available at every judicial centre in the Province of Alberta, and that they can either be completed remotely or in-person.

In order to have SCCs scheduled, the parties must submit a written request to the applicable Surrogate Co-Chair for the judicial centre in which the Statement of Claim or Application was filed, which can be completed by just one of the parties. In addition to submitting a written request, the Court has also confirmed that a Justice of the Court has the authority to unilaterally direct the parties to request SCCs.

When submitting a written request to schedule SCCs, the following information needs to be included:

  • The type of SCC requested, including either a one (1) Hour SCC or a Half-Day SCC;
  • The names of the parties involved and their counsel, if any;
  • A brief explanation of the issues;
  • The type of pleading filed;
  • Any applicable limitations dates; and
  • The acceptable dates for the SCC to be scheduled, as agreed between all of the parties.

When scheduling SCCs, the Court also provided clarity on whether the SCCs should be scheduled for one (1) hour or a half-day, including that the following parameters apply:

- One (1) Hour SCCs – Suitable to identify the issues between the parties, the applicable next steps, and to explore the potential of early resolution between the parties; or

- Half-Day SCCs – Suitable only when the parties have already explored a resolution but were unsuccessful in reaching a resolution up until that point, with the goal that participation will assist the parties in reaching a resolution, failing which, it will be set down for a court-imposed resolution.

Half-day SCCs were also identified by the Court as an official judicial dispute resolution process under the Alberta Rules of Court, AR 124/2010.

Required Documents

In participating in either the one (1) hour or half-day SCCs, the Court requires certain information to be provided to it, which must be provided no later than 12:00 noon the Friday before the actual SCC is scheduled to occur.

With respect to one (1) hour SCCs, the Court requires the following:

  • Any pleadings filed;
  • A proposed agenda; and
  • A brief history of the litigation, which identifies the names of the parties and their counsel, if any, the issues in dispute, attempts at resolution that have occurred to date, and any Orders proposed to be issued at the SCC.

With respect to the half-day SCCs, the Court requires the following:

  • A brief synopsis of the facts;
  • The relief sought by the parties;
  • A summary or highlight of any expert reports, including copies of the expert reports;
  • Witness statements for all the non-experts that are anticipated to participate at trial;
  • The headnotes of any caselaw to be relied upon by the parties;
  • Any other information and material that the parties deem relevant; and
  • A current bill of costs.

Beyond clarifying the process for SCCs, the announcement issued by the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta and the updates contained therein should streamline the surrogate litigation process and encourage cost-effective dispute resolution going forward.

Should you have any questions regarding SCCs, please contact our office.

Author: Zoe Rossier, Student at Law