If you and your partner don’t agree

As the moving party, you need to fill out:

• Form 14: Notice of Motion, where you list the orders you're asking the court to make; or a Form 14B: Notice of Motion if you're asking for a procedural order such as more time to file your documents.
• Form 14A: Affidavit, where you tell the court why you're asking for those orders and why you can't wait until a case conference to discuss the issues. Include your evidence. Your evidence must be sworn or affirmed. This means you promise that the information in the document is true. It is against the law to not tell the truth when swearing or affirming an affidavit.

You may also need to fill out:

• Form 14A: Affidavit, from other people like friends, family members, and neighbours, who have information that proves what you are saying. If they are not willing to sign an affidavit, you can try asking them for a letter that you can attach to your affidavit.
• Form 8: Application, if you haven't already filed this form with the court. You have to:
  • give basic information about your family, such as your name, date of birth, and address, and those of your partner and your children
  • the history of your relationship with your partner
  • check off the issues you're asking the judge to help you with
  • list the orders you're asking the judge to make
  • give facts and reasons for each order you're asking for
• Form 35.1: Affidavit (decision-making responsibility, parenting time, contact), if you're asking for decision-making responsibility or parenting time  and if you haven't already filed this form with the court. Decision-making responsibility and parenting time used to be called custody and access. You have to answer some personal questions about your family situation and tell the court about your suggested parenting plan.
• Form 13: Financial Statement or Form 13.1: Financial Statement, if you're asking for child support, spousal support, or to divide property. You have to give information about your finances such as your income, living expenses, and assets and debts.
• Form 13A: Certificate of Financial Disclosure, where you list all the documents that prove what you said in your financial statement.
• Support Deduction Order, if you're asking for support.
• Support Deduction Order Information Form, if you're asking for support.
• A factum, which is a statement of the law you're relying on. A factum is usually a good idea and is sometimes required in the Superior Court of Justice.
• An offer to settle that tells your partner what you are willing to accept so that you don't have to go to court for your motion.
• Updated table of contents, that lists the documents you're adding to your continuing record.

You need to call the court or go to the courthouse to ask the court clerk for a date when the judge will hear your motion. You write this date on your Form 14: Notice of Motion.

Make copies of your completed documents for you and your partner.

You must serve your partner with a copy of your documents at least 6 days before the date of the motion. Serve your documents below explains how to do this.

You may also have to serve any other person or agency that is connected to what your case is about. For example, if you're asking for child support or spousal support and you're getting or you've got social benefits like Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program, the Ministry of Community and Social Services needs to know about your case. Serve your documents on the Ministry of Community and Social Services below explains how to do this.

See Count time below to understand how to calculate days or time correctly. This is important because court staff may not accept your documents if you haven't followed the rules.

After you serve your partner, you must file your documents and Form 6B: Affidavit of Service with the court. This means they're added to your court file. You must do this at least 4 days before the motion date.

You can file your forms and documents with the court online, by email, or in person. File your court forms and documents below explains how to do this.

If you need an interpreter or any special arrangement because of a disability, see Ask for a special arrangement below.

If your partner started the motion you have a chance to answer it by filling out:

• Form 14A: Affidavit, where you tell the court why you agree or don't agree with the orders your partner is asking for and include your evidence. Your evidence must be sworn or affirmed. This means you promise that the information in the document is true. It's against the law to not tell the truth when swearing or affirming an affidavit.

You may also need to fill out:

• Form 14: Notice of Motion, where you list the orders you want the court to make if you want something other than to have the motion dismissed; or a Form 14B: Notice of Motion if you're asking for a procedural order such as more time to file your documents.
• Form 35.1: Affidavit (decision-making responsibility, parenting time, contact), if the change is about decision-making responsibility or parenting time. These used to be called custody and access. You have to answer some personal questions about your family situation and tell the court about your suggested parenting plan.
• Form 13: Financial Statement or Form 13.1: Financial Statement, if you or your partner are asking for child support, spousal support, or to divide property. You have to give information about your finances such as your income, living expenses, and assets and debts.
• Form 13A: Certificate of Financial Disclosure, where you list all the documents that support what you said in your financial statement.
• Support Deduction Order, if you're asking for support.
• Support Deduction Order Information Form, if you're asking for support.
• A factum, which is a statement of the law you're relying on. A factum is sometimes required in the Superior Court of Justice.
• Updated table of contents, that lists the documents you're adding to your continuing record.

Make copies of your completed documents for you and your partner.

You must serve your partner with a copy of your documents at least 4 days before the date of the motion . You serve your partner by regular service or special service. Serve your documents below explains how to do this.

See Count time below to understand how to calculate days or time correctly. This is important because court staff may not accept your documents if you haven't followed the rules.

After you serve your partner, you must file your documents and Form 6B: Affidavit of Service with the court. This means they're added to your court file. You must do this at least 4 days before the motion date.

You can file your forms and documents with the court online, by email, or in person. File your court forms and documents below explains how to do this.

If you need an interpreter or any special arrangement because of a disability, see Ask for a special arrangement below.

You and your partner have to tell the court that you will be at your hearing. Confirm your court date below explains how to do this.

When you come to court on that date, the judge will have all the documents you and your partner filed. The judge may have questions for you to help them make a decision. So you need to be prepared to speak in the courtroom.

There are usually no witnesses on a motion. You can only refer to the evidence in your affidavit or other documents you filed with the court. So it's very important to include all the evidence you have in your affidavit.

At the end of the motion, the judge can make a temporary order that lasts for a few weeks or months while you and your partner continue to try to resolve your issues. The judge may make a decision right away. Or, they may “reserve” their decision and make it a later time.

If the judge reserves their decision, it means they need more time to review the evidence and think about the orders you're asking for. You may need to come back to court for the decision or you may be told about the decision in writing.

Your case continues through the family court process after a motion. You must follow any temporary orders until:

• The judge makes a different decision.
• You and your partner agree on how to resolve your issues.

The judge may order cost consequences. This means that you may have to pay for some or all of your partner's legal costs.

The judge may ask you for reasons why your partner should pay for some of your costs, or why you should not have to pay for some of your partner's costs.

If you or any of your witnesses need an interpreter or any special arrangement because of a disability, you can ask for this at any stage in the court process.

You can speak with any staff member at court about what you need or you can contact the Accessibility Coordinator at the court where your case, motion, or trial is being held. More information on how Ontario's courts can be more accessible is available on the Ministry of the Attorney General's website.

You must confirm your court date by 2 p.m., at least 3 days before your scheduled hearing. To confirm a court date, you must fill out and file Form 14C: Confirmation. To confirm a conference date, you must fill out and file Form 17F: Confirmation of Conference.

These forms tell the court that you'll be at your hearing, what specific issues will be discussed at it, and what documents the judge should read. You can file the form in person at the courthouse or by email through the Justice Services Online website. It can no longer be filed by fax.You must give your partner a copy of the form before you give it to the court.

If you don't file your confirmation form in time, the hearing may not be held and you will have to get a new date.

Rule 3: Time tells you how to count time or days.

You must follow court rules that say the day by which you have to:

• serve your partner, or other people or agencies, with your documents
• file your documents with the court
• confirm your court dates

When you serve your documents, counting starts on the day after the "effective" service day. The effective service day depends on how you served the documents. If you served them:

• personally - service is effective the same day
• by mail - service is effective 5 days after the documents are mailed
• by courier - service is effective the day after the courier picks it up
• by fax or email - service is effective the day it's faxed or emailed as long as it's sent before 4 p.m. on a day when the court is open
• at your partner's home with anyone who seems to be an adult and then mailed to that address - service is effective 5 days after the documents are mailed

For example, suppose your partner has to get your documents at least 7 days before the date of your motion. If you serve them personally on Monday, the first day you count is Tuesday and the 7th day is the following Monday.

If the last day is a holiday, the time period ends on the next day that is not a holiday.

But if you have less than 7 days to serve or file your documents or to confirm your court date, then Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays when court offices are closed are not counted.

Counting time or days is important because court staff won't accept your documents if you have not followed the rules.

Rule 6: Service of documents tells you how to serve your partner and any other people or agencies you have to serve.

Documents can be served in 2 ways – by special service or by regular service. The Family Law Rules tell you which way you have to serve your documents at each step in the court process.

You can usually serve your partner yourself, or get a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server to do it for you.

Special service

To serve your documents by special service means you, a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server must do one of the following:

• give a copy to your partner directly
• leave a copy with your partner's lawyer
• mail a copy to your partner, but your partner must send back a special form to confirm they received the document
• leave a copy in an envelope addressed to your partner at your partner's home with any adult living with your partner, and then mail a copy of the documents to that address within one day

Regular Service

To serve your documents by regular service means you must do one of the following:

• mail a copy to your partner or their lawyer
• courier a copy to your partner or their lawyer
• fax a copy to your partner or their lawyer
• email a copy to your partner or their lawyer
• serve a copy by special service

The following documents can only be served by mail, courier, or fax to your partner or their lawyer:

• an Application
• a motion to change
• a notice of contempt motion
• a summons to witness
• a notice of motion or notice of default hearing where the person to be served faces a possibility of jail

6B: Affidavit of Service

After your documents are served, you, or whoever served the documents, must fill out Form 6B: Affidavit of Service. This can be done at the court counter, with the help of the court clerk.

Form 6B asks for:

• the name of the person who served the documents
• the name of the person or agency that was served
• when the documents were served (day, month, and year)
• where the documents were served (house number, apartment number, street name, city, and province)
• what documents were served (Application, Answer, Reply, notice of motion)
• how the documents were served (in person, at place of residence, by regular mail, courier, fax, or email)

This form must be sworn or affirmed. This means the person signing it is promising that the information in it is true. It is against the law to not tell the truth when swearing or affirming an affidavit.

Form 6B proves that your partner got a copy of your documents and knows that they have to respond to them.

More information on serving documents can be found in the Ministry of Attorney General's A Guide to Family Procedures, Part 6: Serving Documents.

Safety issues

If you fear for your safety or the safety of any friend or family member when serving documents, you can ask the court staff to arrange for your documents to be served.

If your child support or spousal support payments go through a social services agency, such as Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), it means your support is paid or assigned to the agency. The social service agency is called the assignee. Your support payments go directly to OW or ODSP, and they pay you the full amount of social assistance even when support is not paid.

If this is your situation, you must include the agency in the court process and in any agreements you make to change your support order.

If you don't serve the agency or get its consent, the agency can ask the court to set aside the new order that you get. This means the court says the new order shouldn't be followed. The court can also order costs against you. This means that you may have to pay some of the agency's costs for asking the court to set aside the order.

To find out if your support is assigned, fill out a Confirmation of Assignment form and fax or mail it to the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

Your form is processed within 3 working days, then mailed or faxed back to you. If your support order is assigned, it will tell you which agency has to be served.

You serve your documents on an agency the same way you serve your partner. See Serve your documents to learn how to do this.

Rule 9: Continuing Record tells you what a continuing record is and what documents you put into it.

The continuing record has every document you and your partner want the court to look at. It is kept in the court file at the courthouse.

The continuing record has 2 parts:

1. The endorsement volume has all the endorsements and court orders a judge makes in your case.
2. The documents volume has all the documents filed in your case by you and your partner. This includes Applications, Answers, Replies, affidavits of service, financial statements, motions, affidavits, and trial management conference briefs. It does not include the case conference brief or the settlement conference brief.

If you're the applicant, you start the continuing record and keep adding your documents to it. If you don't have a lawyer, court staff can help you start it and help you add your documents to it.

If you're the respondent you add your documents to the continuing record your partner started. If you don't have a lawyer, court staff can help you add your documents to it.

When you add a document to the continuing record, you also have to update the table of contents by listing each document you're filing.

Make sure you keep a copy of every document you and your partner fill out. This allows you to keep track of your case yourself. You won't have to go to the court to ask the court clerk to get your court file if you need to check something.

More information on the continuing record can be found in the Ministry of Attorney General's A Guide to Family Procedures, Part 5: Filing Documents.