Frequently Asked Questions

The hours that court houses and offices are open to the public varies from location to location.

The Court of Appeal Registrar’s Office is open from

• 10:00 a.m. to noon, and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
• Monday to Friday.

For Court of King’s Bench and Provincial Court locations, contact the court office for specific information.

• Court of King’s Bench Local Registrar offices
• Provincial Court offices

Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan

2425 Victoria Avenue
Regina, SK
S4P 4W6
Ph: 306-787-5382
Fax: 306-787-5815

Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan

There are nine Judicial Centres across the province. Each has its own address and contact information.

Provincial Court of Saskatchewan

There are 12 permanent court locations and 60 circuit point locations across the province. Each has its own address.

In the case of circuit points, the permanent court location acts as the registry office for contact purposes.

The Court of Appeal schedule is posted online each month.

General information about court schedules and sittings in the two trial courts can be found on the applicable Court Locations and Sittings page:

• Provincial Court
• Court of King’s Bench

To find out when you or someone else is due to appear in court, call the court office where the matter is scheduled. (If you are scheduled to attend at a circuit point, call the main court office for that location.)

You will need to provide a full name and as much additional identifying information as possible, including birth date, last appearance date and an Information or case file number, if applicable.

Decisions

Written decisions from the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, Court of King’s Bench for Saskatchewan, and the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan are available on the Canadian Legal Information Institute’s website (CanLII). See the Decisions page on this website for links and further information.

Court Records
Court records in Saskatchewan are not available or searchable online.

There is no central storage place for court records in Saskatchewan. Instead, court records and files are stored at the court location in which the matter was heard.

This means that requests to access court files must be made to the appropriate court – Court of Appeal, Court of King’s Bench or Provincial Court – at the specific court location where the record is stored.

You may be charged a fee for the search, and the search may take some time, since the primary responsibility of court staff is to ensure that court operations run smoothly and the administration of justice is carried out. If the record you are searching for is quite old, the records may be stored off-site and additional time may be needed to retrieve them from storage.

Generally speaking, court offices have limited or no ability to do broad or blanket searches for a name or a type of court case.

• Provincial Court offices and contact information
• Court of King’s Bench offices and contact information
• Court of Appeal

More Information

The Courts have prepared guidelines to assist individuals interested in accessing court records. The guidelines outline how to make an access request, what information is available, and limitations on access to certain documents.

• Public Access to Court Records in Saskatchewan: Guidelines for the Media and the Public
• Request for Access to Court Records form

There are a variety of forms available on this website, in a variety of formats:

• Small Claims forms
• Probate Application forms
• King’s Bench forms
• Court of Appeal forms
• Access to Court Records application form
• Media Identification application for
• Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judicial Council application forms
•  

Birth, death, and marriage certificates are registered and available through the province’s Vital Statistics registry. See the eHealth website for more information.

If you need a copy of a previous criminal record conviction to apply for a waiver or pardon (now known as a record suspension), you will need to contact the court office where the matter was heard to make the request.

If you attended at a circuit point, contact the main court office for that location. Court records obtained for a record suspension will cost $100, while court records obtained to apply for a United States waiver will cost $75.

• Provincial Court locations
• Court of King’s Bench locations

If you are trying to find court files to assist with your family history research, there are a few things you should know.

There is no central repository of court files in Saskatchewan. Instead, the files are stored at the court house where the matter was heard. Sometimes older court files are stored offsite and can take some time to locate.

To initiate a search, contact the court office nearest where the matter would have been heard or registered. You can find a list of King’s Bench locations along with contact information, as well as a list of Provincial Court offices and their corresponding contact information on this website.

You will need to phone, write or fax the court office, as they are not able to accept email inquiries. The court staff may require you to complete a Request for Access form to begin the search. You will need the full name of the individual for whom you are requesting the search, as well as any other identifying information you have, including birth date.

There is a fee for searching records at the Court of King’s Bench. Fees must be paid before a search begins. There may also be a fee for any photocopying required.

Please note that on a day-to-day basis, practical considerations will affect how quickly court staff can provide responses to searches of court files for research purposes. The primary responsibility of court staff is to ensure that court operations run smoothly and the administration of justice is carried out.

If the file you are searching for is very old, it may have been sent to the The Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan.

The Provincial Archives has records from courts including:

• Supreme Court of the North West Territories en banc
• Court of Appeal
• Supreme Court of Saskatchewan en banc
• Supreme Court of the North West Territories/Saskatchewan
• Court of King’s Bench
• Selected records from the District Court

Not all of the records available at the Archives are complete.

Going to court can be confusing. Court staff can help by providing general information and answering questions that relate to the court process. They cannot provide legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, you will need to speak to a lawyer. Lawyers are knowledgeable about the justice system and trained to act as advocates and advisors.

There are several sources of legal advice available to you, depending on where you live in Saskatchewan.

Hiring a private lawyer is one option. Lawyers are listed in the telephone directory or you can use the Law Society of Saskatchewan’s – ‘Find a Lawyer search tool.

Legal Aid Saskatchewan is another option. It provides a range of legal services to low-income individuals in the areas of family and criminal law. You can find more information on Legal Aid Saskatchewan’s website.

Pro Bono Law Saskatchewan has a range of legal services available in the province, depending on your location and the legal issue you are facing. You can find more information on the Pro Bono Law website.

With very few exceptions, jobs in the court system are advertised and staffed through the Saskatchewan Public Service Commission. You can find more information at the Commission’s website.

The exceptions are Judges and Justices of the Peace. Lawyers seeking appointment to the Court of Appeal or Court of King’s Bench must apply to the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. Lawyers seeking appointment to the Provincial Court must apply to the Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judicial Council.

Justice of the Peace vacancies are advertised and application forms are available from the Office of the Supervising Justice of the Peace. The Office maintains an inventory of applicants and will contact interested individuals as vacancies occur. Applicants must successfully complete an interview process to be recommended for an appointment.

Payments for Summary Offence tickets issued in Saskatchewan can be made in person at any Provincial Court office.

If you have any questions about paying your fine, contact the Provincial Court office nearest you.

The Ministry of Justice also provides an online payment option for Summary Offence tickets, as well as the option to pay by telephone. To use either of these payment methods, you will need a credit card. To pay online or by phone, or if you have questions about doing so, please see the Ministry of Justice’s fine payment portal page. (Phone payments can be made using the toll-free number provided for questions.)

Anyone wishing to obtain a certified copy of their divorce order must make their request to the Local Registrar’s office at the King’s Bench court house where the divorce was granted. You can find a list of offices here.

There’s a $10 fee for the copy and this fee must accompany the request. The request can be made in person or in writing and should include the file number or the year the action was commenced so that court staff can locate the file. If you can’t provide the specific date or file number and staff must search more than 5 years of files to locate the file, a $20 search fee will also be charged.

More:

• Self-Help Divorce Kit
• Varying a Child-Support Order
• Maintenance Enforcement Office
• Inter-Jurisdictional Support Orders Unit
• Family Matters: Assisting Families Through Separation and Divorce

Between its three courts, Saskatchewan has approximately 95 full-time judges, as well as supernumerary and relief judges. The numbers vary from time to time due to retirements and appointments.

For a list of each Court’s current judges, please see the following pages:

• Provincial Court judges
• Court of King’s Bench judges
• Court of Appeal judges

Although judges are appointed by the provincial or federal government, anyone wishing to become a judge must apply. The process is similar for each of the courts, but there are differences; most notably, those hoping to become Provincial Court judges apply to the Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judicial Council, while those wishing to join either the Court of Queen’s Bench or the Court of Appeal apply to the Commissioner for Judicial Affairs. More information on these processes is available:

• Provincial Court appointments
• Court of King’s Bench appointments
• Court of Appeal appointments

More:

• Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs
• Federal judges in Canada – by province and court

Small Claims Court is meant to be an easier and less expensive way to resolve disputes. Claims cannot exceed $50,000 in value.

While lawyers can handle Small Claims cases, most people choose to represent themselves, and the process is simplified to make that possible. Staff can help prepare the necessary forms (samples of which are all found on this site).

You can find more information on Small Claims Court, helpful advice on the process, and sample forms.

You can also find answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding Small Claims.

If you have questions, contact the Provincial Court office nearest you.

Probating a Will
For information about probating a will, including the fees, process and duties of an Executor or Administrator, see the information on this website.

• Application for Probate

Searching a Will

The Wills and Estates Registry is the registry of every estate application, such as an application for Letters Probate or Letters of Administration, ever filed in a court in Saskatchewan. These records go back to 1883. Only some of this information is on the computer; the first 100 years are recorded in handwriting in large docket books.

For more information on the registry, see the information on this website. To search the Registry, mail, fax or deliver in person a letter including the following information:

• the deceased person’s full name (and any aliases that person may have used);
• the deceased person’s last known place of residence (city or town only, civic address not required); and the date of death (if this is not known, please provide some indication of the latest date the person was known to be alive; closely approximating the date of death will speed the search results) to:

Wills and Estates Registry
Local Registrar’s Office
Court House
2425 Victoria Avenue
Regina, SK S4P 4W6
Phone: 306-787-5223
Fax: 306-787-7217

Please allow 1 to 2 weeks for search results.

Questions?

If you have other questions about Wills & Estates, contact the King’s Bench Local Registrar’s Office nearest you:

Court of King’s Bench Local Registrar offices

Please note that while court staff can provide general information and answer questions that relate to the court process, they cannot provide legal advice.