Tips on Completing
Forms in the Court of Appeal for Ontario (PDF Version)
1. All court forms must be
typed, handwritten or printed legibly. It may cause delays if your forms cannot
be read.
2. Content of forms under the Rules of
Civil Procedure is available at the following website: www.ontariocourtforms.on.ca. This content is not
formatted. It is your responsibility to ensure that the form complies with the Rules
of Civil Procedure (see for example Rule 4.01 with respect to formatting).
Many of the Rules of Civil Procedure forms contain the phrase "General
heading. " General headings are
separate forms under the Rules of Civil Procedure and must be inserted
where this phrase appears, with the proper content.
3. How to COUNT DAYS FOR TIMELINES in the Rules of Civil Procedure:
When calculating
timelines in the Rules of Civil Procedure, count the days by excluding
the first day and including the last day of the period. Where a period of less
than seven days is mentioned in the rules, holidays (including Saturdays and
Sundays) must not be counted. If the last day of the period of time falls on a
holiday, the period ends on the next day that is not a holiday.
Holidays
include:
- any Saturday or Sunday
- New Year's Day
- Family Day
- Good Friday
- Easter Monday
- Victoria Day
- Canada Day
- Civic Holiday
- Labour Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Remembrance Day
- Christmas Day
- Boxing Day
- any special holiday proclaimed by the
Governor General or the Lieutenant Governor
NOTE: If New Year's Day,
Canada Day or Remembrance Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following
Monday is a holiday. If Christmas Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday the
following Monday and Tuesday are holidays, and if Christmas Day falls on a
Friday, the following Monday is a holiday.
4. You can FILE your documents by
mail or in person. It is best to file documents in person, because if any are
incomplete, the clerk may inform you and you can avoid wasting time mailing the
documents back and forth. If you file documents by mail, the date of filing
will be the date the documents are stamped upon receipt by the court office. If
the court office does not receive the documents, they will be considered not to
have been filed unless the court orders otherwise (see Rule 4.05). All
applicable fees and proof of service must be included with the documents when
you mail them. Documents cannot be faxed or e-mailed to the court,
other than electronic factums and transcripts that are less than 10 MBs. Keep a
copy of all original documents you forward to the court for your records.
5. Once court staff gives you a COURT FILE NUMBER, make sure it is
written on the upper right-hand corner of ALL documents filed with the
court.
6. Make enough COPIES of your completed forms/documents. Usually you will require one copy for each
party who must be served and one copy for your own records. There is a fee to
have copies made at the court office.
7. COURT FEES must be paid to issue and file specific
documents in civil proceedings. A listing of Superior Court of Justice and
Court of Appeal fees can be viewed at the Ministry of the Attorney General
website at https://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/. Fees are payable in Canadian funds, and can
be paid by cash, cheque or money order payable to the Minister of Finance.
8. An AFFIDAVIT can be sworn or
affirmed before:
- a
Court of Appeal for Ontario staff member who is a commissioner for taking
affidavits (there is a fee for this service);
- a
lawyer or paralegal licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada;
- a
notary public; or
- a
person who has been appointed a commissioner for taking affidavits.
These individuals are
authorized to commission oaths.
You should come to a
commissioner with personal identification and the unsigned document. The
commissioner will ask you to swear or affirm that the information in the
affidavit is true and will ask you to sign the affidavit. The affidavit must be signed in front of the commissioner, since he or she will certify that it
was sworn or affirmed in his or her presence.
NOTE: It is a
criminal offence to swear or affirm an affidavit you know is false. |
