Parenting After Separation Course BC: Who Needs It and How It Works

If you're filing a family law application in BC Provincial Court involving children, you cannot proceed until you've completed the Parenting After Separation (PAS) course. It's not optional — the court won't schedule your first hearing without the certificate of completion.

Here's what the course involves, who's exempt, and how to get through it efficiently.

What the PAS Course Covers

The Parenting After Separation program is a free, three-hour online course offered by the BC Ministry of Attorney General. It covers three main areas: the emotional impact of separation on children at different developmental stages, cooperative co-parenting strategies to reduce conflict, and the basics of child support under the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

The course is available 24/7 online in English, French, and Punjabi. An adapted version — Parenting After Separation for Indigenous Families — is also available and covers culturally specific considerations.

You receive a Certificate of Completion at the end, which you'll need for your court file.

Who Must Take It

Every parent filing a family law matter in BC Provincial Court that involves children — including guardianship, parenting time, child support, or spousal support applications — must complete the PAS course before their Family Management Conference.

Both parents must complete it independently. You cannot share a certificate or attend together.

The requirement applies at all Provincial Court registries designated as "Early Resolution Registries," which covers Vancouver Coastal, Vancouver Fraser, Vancouver Island, and Interior regions — essentially the entire province.

Exemptions

You can apply for an exemption by filing a Form 20 (Notice of Exemption) at the court registry. The accepted grounds are:

• You completed a PAS or PAS-Indigenous course within the past two years
• All children in the dispute are 19 or older
• The dispute involves only a companion animal (no children)
• The dispute is exclusively about spousal support
• You face a documented medical condition preventing completion
• The course isn't available in a language you're fluent in, or you face severe literacy barriers
• You and the other parent have reached a complete agreement and are filing a joint Consent Order

If none of these apply, there's no way around it — take the course before filing.

Supreme Court vs. Provincial Court

The PAS requirement applies specifically to Provincial Court filings. If you're filing for divorce in BC Supreme Court (which is the only court that can grant an actual divorce), the PAS course isn't formally mandatory — but judges still expect evidence that parents have considered cooperative parenting, and some Supreme Court judges will direct parents to complete it.

Getting the Most Out of It

Most parents treat the PAS course as a checkbox. That's understandable — three hours feels like a lot when you're already overwhelmed. But the section on how children process separation at different ages is genuinely useful, especially if you're drafting a parenting plan and need to choose an age-appropriate schedule.

The British Columbia Custody & Parenting Plan Guide builds on the foundations the PAS course introduces — with step-by-step schedule building, a parenting plan checklist, and worksheets designed specifically for BC's Family Law Act terminology.

See more British Columbia guides →