New processes for family law matters are now in effect (as of January 2, 2026) in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. This new series of processes, called the Family Focused Protocol (FFP), focuses on providing a “family-centered, resolution-oriented, and streamlined approach to family matters.” Family law matters will now be assigned a Mandatory Intake Triage (MIT) Justice to deal with initial assessment and interim needs, and, as the matter progresses, this same Justice serves as the Case Conference Justice and sees the matter through to a final determination. Court applications for family law matters may be brought through three distinct streams – regular family process, desk process, or urgent process.

More information about the processes related to these various application streams can be found in the court’s Notice to the Profession & Public, NPP# 2025-04, “New Processes in Family Law – Family Focused Protocol” (10 December 2025).