Ontario Small Claims Court Now Hears $50,000. What That Changes for You

What changed on 1 October 2025?

Ontario's Small Claims Court is a branch of the Superior Court of Justice that decides claims for money, or for the return of personal property, up to a prescribed value (Courts of Justice Act s.22 and s.23(1)). The value is set by regulation, not by the Act. Ontario Regulation 42/25, made on 24 April 2025 and filed on 1 May 2025, struck out $35,000 in O. Reg. 626/00 and substituted $50,000, and struck out the $3,500 appeal threshold and substituted $5,000. Section 3 of the amending regulation brought both changes into force on 1 October 2025.

The ceiling is measured exclusive of interest and costs (s.23(1)(a)). A $50,000 unpaid invoice can therefore be claimed in full in Small Claims Court even though interest will take the judgment above $50,000. The same $50,000 now also caps the claims a deputy judge may hear (O. Reg. 626/00 s.1(2)); deputy judges are lawyers appointed under s.32 of the Act to preside in Small Claims Court.

Which court hears a claim of $5,000, $50,000 or $60,000?

The answer is a step function. Up to $50,000 the claim belongs in Small Claims Court, and since 1 July 2024 an action within that limit may not be started in the Superior Court of Justice without leave (CJA s.23(1.1)). Leave is granted only if it is in the interest of justice (Rules of Civil Procedure r.14.01.1(3)). A plaintiff who sues in the Superior Court anyway and recovers $50,000 or less risks an order that it recovers no costs at all (r.57.05(1)).

Above $50,000 you have a choice. You may claim only $50,000 and stay in Small Claims Court, but you may not divide one cause of action into two claims to fit under the limit (Small Claims Court Rules r.6.02). Or you may sue in the Superior Court, where claims for money or property of $200,000 or less must use the simplified procedure of Rule 76 (r.76.02(1)). An action already started in the Superior Court can be transferred to Small Claims Court by requisition if every party consents before trial (CJA s.23(2)).

How much does it cost to sue in Ontario Small Claims Court?

Court fees are fixed by O. Reg. 332/16 under the Administration of Justice Act, and the same fee applies whether you file online, by mail or at the counter. The amounts do not rise with the size of the claim. They depend instead on how often you sue: a frequent claimant is one who has already filed 10 or more claims in the same court office in the calendar year, and pays more for the claim, the trial date and a default judgment.

A plaintiff who takes an infrequent claim all the way to trial pays $108 to file and $308 to fix the trial date: $416 in court fees. A defendant pays $77 to file a defence. The regulation also builds in automatic increases: from 1 January 2027, and every third 1 January after that, the fees rise by the change in Ontario's Consumer Price Index unless the Minister publishes a decision that they would exceed full cost recovery (s.4). The 2027 amounts had not been published when this article was checked.

Can a paralegal represent you in Small Claims Court?

Yes. Section 26 of the Courts of Justice Act lets a party be represented in Small Claims Court by a person authorized under the Law Society Act, which in practice means a lawyer or a licensed paralegal. Ontario's own online filing page tells claimants to contact a lawyer or paralegal through the Law Society Referral Service before they file. The court may exclude a representative who is not a Law Society licensee if it finds that person is not competent or does not follow an advocate's duties at the hearing.

Representation is optional, and most of the court's procedure is written for people who represent themselves: forms in plain language, documents attached to the claim, and an informal settlement conference. What representation changes is the costs picture. A winner represented by a lawyer, student-at-law or paralegal may be awarded a reasonable representation fee (Small Claims Court Rules r.19.04); a self-represented winner may receive up to $500 for inconvenience and expense (r.19.05). Both fall inside the 15% cap explained below.

How much in costs can the winner recover?

Section 29 of the Courts of Justice Act caps an award of costs, other than disbursements, at 15% of the amount claimed. The court may exceed the cap only to penalize unreasonable behaviour by a party or its representative. On a $50,000 claim the ceiling is $7,500; on a $20,000 claim, $3,000. Disbursements such as the court fees in the table above are recovered on top.

Because the cap is a percentage of the claim, a paralegal or lawyer who charges more than 15% of the amount in dispute will cost a winning client money even in victory. Two rules can shift the result. A written offer to settle made at least seven days before trial that the other side rejects, and then fails to beat, allows the court to award up to twice the costs (r.14.07), and a self-represented party up to $1,500 for inconvenience and expense (r.14.07(3)). How far that can lift an award past the 15% cap is for the court to decide in each case. And the costs of the settlement conference itself are limited to $100, other than disbursements, unless there are special circumstances (r.13.10).

How do you file and serve a claim?

You start with a plaintiff's claim (Form 7A), stating in plain language who the parties are, what happened, when and where, and the amount claimed. If the claim rests on a document, such as a contract, an invoice or a text message, a copy must be attached (r.7.01(2)). Outside Toronto you can file through the Small Claims Court Submissions Online portal; since 14 October 2025, online filings in the Toronto region go through the Ontario Courts Public Portal.

Once the clerk issues the claim, you must serve it on each defendant within six months, personally or by an alternative to personal service the rules allow (r.8.01(2)). The defendant then has 20 days from service to serve and file a defence (r.9.01). If no defence arrives in time, you can ask the clerk to note the defendant in default and sign default judgment for a debt or other fixed sum of money (r.11.02(1)), for a $94 fee.

What happens at the settlement conference?

Every defended action has a settlement conference (r.13.01(1)), held within 90 days after the first defence is filed (r.13.01(3)). The parties, and their representatives if they have them, must participate (r.13.02(1)). At least 14 days before it, each party must serve and file any document it will rely on at trial that was not attached to its claim or defence, and a list of proposed witnesses (Form 13A) (r.13.03(2)). The conference is confidential (r.13.03(4)), and the judge who conducts it may not preside at the trial (r.13.08).

The judge or deputy judge gives the parties a view of how the case is likely to be decided. You may ignore that view, but missing the conference is costly: the court may impose sanctions, and a defendant who misses a first and an additional conference may have its defence struck out (r.13.02(5) and (6)). If the amount in dispute is under $5,000 and all parties file a consent (Form 13B), the judge can give a final judgment at the conference if mediation fails (r.13.05(4)). If the case is not resolved within 30 days afterwards, a party must request a trial date and pay the $308 fee (r.13.07).

Who can appeal, and how long do you have?

Under s.31 of the Courts of Justice Act an appeal lies to the Divisional Court from a final order of the Small Claims Court in an action for the payment of money exceeding the prescribed amount, excluding costs, which since 1 October 2025 is $5,000 (O. Reg. 626/00 s.2). Unlike California, where a losing plaintiff cannot appeal, the Ontario section does not limit which side may appeal.

The appeal is started by serving a notice of appeal within 30 days after the order is made (Rules of Civil Procedure r.61.04(1)), and the Small Claims Court office charges $105 to forward the file (O. Reg. 332/16). An appeal is a different and more formal proceeding than the trial, and it is the stage at which paying for a lawyer's advice is most likely to be worth it. In a claim of $5,000 or less there is no appeal to the Divisional Court, so the trial is the whole case.

Is it worth suing for $8,000, $25,000 or $50,000?

On court fees alone, almost always. The ladder adds the $108 filing fee to the $308 trial-date fee for an infrequent claimant and compares the total with the claim and with the most a court would normally award in costs. The real risks lie elsewhere: the time a defended case takes, the 15% cap if you pay a representative more than that, and a judgment against someone with nothing to seize. Paralegal and lawyer fees are not regulated by a public tariff, so ask for a written quote before you instruct anyone.

Before you file: five questions

Most Small Claims Court cases are won or lost on paper before anyone reaches a courtroom: a claim filed against the wrong legal entity, a figure with no document behind it, a deadline already past, or a representative whose bill outgrows anything the court can award back.