Series consists of original decrees nisi, decrees absolute, and divorce orders created between 1950-1958 and 1971-1997 by the Ashcroft Supreme Court registry. Between 1968 and 1985, a judgement by way of decree nisi required a three-month waiting period before a judgement by way of decree absolute could be applied for. During this time, a divorce was not legally in effect without a decree absolute. After 1985, divorce orders automatically came into effect 31 days after the divorce was granted, barring an appeal.
Decrees nisi and decrees absolute are filed together and arranged by case number, not by volume and folio or by date. This means that records of varying dates are interfiled. From 1950-1978, case file numbers were assigned chronologically and include the year a divorce was initiated. For example, no. 1/71 was the first divorce initiated in 1971, no. 1/72 was the first divorce of 1972, and so on. Starting in 1979, case file numbers continued sequentially across years from no. 14 in 1979 to no. 82 in 1997. The records were scheduled for full retention under Court Services ORCS (schedule 100152) 51440-25.
British Columbia. Supreme Court (Ashcroft)