File via Online Portal

To file through the Family Submissions portal, you need:

• A ‘My Ontario Account’
• All your completed documents saved as individual PDFs or in Word (.docx) format
• If filing for an existing case, your court file number
• Your respective card/paying method if fees are required

The Portal should not be used if your documents are for a court hearing or a step in the proceeding that is five business days or less away.

File by Email

To file through email, you may follow this list to formulate your subject line:

• Look up emails for OCJ or for the SCJ, depending on which level of Court you are filing with. 
• A list of SCJ courthouse emails can be found here, 
• A list of OCJ courthouse emails can be found here. 
• Your case matter (ex. Child protection)
• The file number, or “new” if there is no pre-existing file number
• the type of document (ex. case conference)

For your email body:

• Extended prose version of the information you have included in the subject
• The title of the proceeding
• A list of documents you will attach to the email
• Your name and contact information

Filing In Person

If you would like to file your documents in-person, you may contact your respective Court to ask about in-person procedures and court hours.

How are digital documents named?

If you are filing your documents online, make sure your files are named correctly. 

They should be titled with the following information in this specific order:

• The type of document and its form number (each type of document has its own number, for example, Application Forms are numbered by 8, and an application for a divorce is numbered 8A)
• “Applicant” or “Respondent”, depending on which one you are
• Your first name as an initial followed by your last name
• The date you signed or created the document in DD-MM-YYYY form

For example:

Application Form 8B – Applicant – M. Hong – 08-08-2028

Answer Form 10 – Respondent – J. Ongai – 10-29-2019

What are deadlines for serving and filing? 

Forms that must be served immediately on every other party:

• Application (Form 8 or Form 8A)
• Motion to Change (Form 15)

Other forms depend on other factors:

• Answer (Form 10) and Response to Motion to Change (Form 15B) should be served and filed within 30 calendar days of receiving the application if you were served within Canada or the United States, but 60 calendar days if you were served outside of Canada and the United States.
• A Reply (Form 10A) must be served and filed within 10 calendar days after receiving an Answer or Response to Motion to Change.
• Motions: Documents to bring a motion with notice (Form 14 or 14A) must be served at least 6 business days before the motion date, and filed at least 4 business days before it.

Documents responding to a motion must be served and filed at least 4 business days either before the motion date if the motion was brought with form 14, or after being served with the other party’s motion materials if the motion was brought with 14B.

• Conference Documents (Form 17, 17A, 17C, 17E, or Trial Scheduling Endorsement Form) must be served and filed AT LEAST:

• 6 business days before the conference if:
  • you are the one who called for a conference
  • you are the applicant and no other party has called for one

• 4 business days before the conference if:
  • you received a notice of conference 
  • you are the respondent and no other party has called for one

How do you count days?

When you serve and file your documents, you must do so within a certain interval as defined by the Family Rules.

You must start counting from the day after the effective service day, which differs depending on the method the documents are served. For example, for our purposes, documents served via fax, email, or any kind of electronic exchange are serviced effectively on the same day if documents were sent before 4:00pm, or the next day if documents were sent after 4:00pm. If you send your documents before 4pm, you start counting from the day after you sent them. But if you send your documents after 4pm, you start counting from the next day.

During your counting, if you have less than 7 days, you cannot include Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays in your counting. However, if you have 7 days or more, you must include them.

Should the effective service day fall on a date when the court is closed (saturday, sunday, holidays), the effective service day will be the next day the court is open.

Likewise, should the last day in your serving/filing timeframe be on a date the court is closed, the last day would then be on the next day the court is open.