File small claims court documents online

Overview

A small claims court case is a lawsuit between individuals and/or corporations for $35,000 or less.

If you want to sue for more than $35,000, you must take your case to the Superior Court of Justice (civil court).

Plaintiffs (the person launching the lawsuit) can file documents online using the Small Claims Court E-Filing Service portal or the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal, depending on the document. Defendants (the person responding to the lawsuit) can file documents online using the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal.

Documents you can file online

You can use the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal to file most court documents in a Small Claims Court case.

Documents you cannot file online

You cannot submit documents online through the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal:

• to request an urgent hearing
• for a court date that is 3 business days or less away (for example, if your court date is on Tuesday, February 9, you cannot submit documents online after Wednesday, February 3)
• if you need to meet a deadline established by legislation or other court rules, court practice direction or a court order that is 3 business days or less away

If you cannot submit your documents online, you may file them:

• in person at the courthouse
• by mail
• by email

Get help before you file

Contact a lawyer or paralegal  

You may wish to contact a lawyer or paralegal before filing documents online or in court. A lawyer or paralegal knows what documents you must file, as set out in the Rules of the Small Claims Court  or any court Notices and Practice Directions. A lawyer or paralegal can provide advice on your options and legal risks, the documents that should be provided to the court and the consequences of not providing the required information or following court procedure.

You can contact a lawyer or paralegal through the Law Society Referral Service or Law Society Lawyer and Paralegal Directory. You can find other legal resources at: Find a Lawyer or Paralegal.

Get free online help to complete your court forms

The Small Claims Court Guided Pathways is a free online to tool that asks you questions and puts your answers into the required court forms. When you’re finished, you can save or print your completed forms before filing them with the court.

You can also find more information about small claims court on the Community Legal Education Ontario  (CLEO) Steps to Justice website.

How to file online

Before you submit documents online, you will need:

• a My Ontario Account: if you don’t have one, sign up now
• your Visa, Mastercard, or debit card, if filing fees apply
• your court file number, if you are filing documents for an existing case
• all your court documents completed and saved as individual PDFs or in Word (.docx) format
• Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5.0 (or higher) installed on your computer to complete these forms in PDF format
• all your court documents saved with file names that reflect:
  • document type (e.g., Affidavit)
  • type of party submitting the document (e.g., Defendant or Plaintiff)
  • name of the party submitting the document (including initials if the name is not unique to the case)
  • date when the document was created or signed (DD-MMM-YYYY)

Sample document name: Affidavit–Defendant–DoeJA–03-MAR-2021

Fees

To file court documents online, by mail or at a court counter, you need to pay the required filing fees – unless you’re eligible for an exemption such as a fee waiver.

Some fees are set by how often you file a claim.

For example, an infrequent claimant is someone who files up to 10 claims per calendar year in the same court location. They will pay:

• $108 for filing a claim
• $94 for filing of a request for default judgment
• $308 for setting a date for an assessment hearing
• $127 for filing a Notice of Motion for an Assessment in Writing

A frequent claimant is someone who files more than 10 claims a year in the same court location. Starting with the 11^th claim, they will pay:

• $228 for filing a claim
• $128 for filing of a request for default judgment
• $403 for setting a date for an assessment hearing
• $127 for filing a Notice of Motion for an Assessment in Writing

Read the guide to fee schedules for more information.

If you cannot afford to pay court or enforcement fees in your proceeding, you may request a fee waiver. If you are granted a fee waiver, it will apply to most fees in your court proceeding from that point forward. Find out how to apply for a fee waiver.

• If you are submitting a document and applying for a fee waiver certificate at the same time, choose “Fee waiver request” for any document that would normally have a fee.
• If you are submitting a document and you already have a fee waiver certificate, choose “Document is being submitted by a person with a fee waiver certificate” for any document that would normally have a fee.

File your documents

Your session will expire if you’re inactive for 20 minutes.

You can save your most recent online transactions as drafts and complete it at a later time. When you return to your draft, you will need to upload your attachments again.

File your documents

After you file

Note: If your browser is having issues completing your transaction(s), check to see if your browser supports TLS 1.2.

When you submit your document(s) through the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal, you will:

• get an on-screen confirmation that your documents have been submitted but are not yet filed or issued by the court
• need to take a screenshot or print a copy of this screen for your records

Court staff will review your documents within 3 business days to determine if they are accepted for filing or issuance. If your documents are:

• accepted, you will receive an email confirming your documents have been filed or issued
• rejected, you will receive an email stating your documents have not been filed or issued, the reasons for the rejection and confirming that your credit or debit card has not been charged

If your documents are rejected, you can address the issues and resubmit the revised documents and the proper court filing fee to the court.

Once the court has filed or issued your document, you will receive the documents by email.

When you file and pay for a Plaintiff’s Claim (Form 7A), you’ll get an:              

• online confirmation on your screen right away
• email from the Court with your issued Plaintiff’s Claim attached

Claims filed on a weekday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. (excluding holidays) are processed on the same day.

• Document(s) submitted outside regular business hours, will be filed on the next business day.

If you do not receive this email with the Claim attached, contact the courthouse where the claim started.

If you have questions about the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal, please contact the Ministry of Attorney General:

•  SmallClaimsOnline@ontario.ca
• Toll-free: 1-800-980-4962
• Tel: 647-438-0403
• TTY: 416-368-4202
• Toll-free TTY: 1-833-820-0714