Motions

Motions are requests to the Court to make an order before judgment, or sometimes after judgment.

The party making the motion is called the moving party. A party responding to the motion is called the responding party.

Generally, all parties in a case must be served with a motion so they have a chance to participate in the hearing. A party cannot make a motion without notice to other parties, except in limited circumstances.

Making a motion

To make a motion, follow these four steps:

• Fill out a Notice of Motion and Supporting Affidavit (Form 15A), leaving out the date, time and hearing details.
• Contact the courthouse to schedule the motion hearing, except in Toronto where you will use the Calendly online scheduling tool. Put into your motion form the date, time and hearing details that court staff give you.
• Serve the motion form by at least 7 days before the hearing date on (a) all parties who have filed a claim and (b) all defendants not noted in default.
• File the motion form, with Affidavits of Service (Form 8A) proving service on each party whom you had to serve, at least 3 days before the motion hearing. [Lawyers and paralegals representing a party may be able to prove service using the Lawyer’s or Paralegal’s Certificate of Service (Form 8B) instead.]

Responding to a motion

If you have been served with a motion, you can respond to it by following these steps:

• Fill out an Affidavit (Form 15B) in response to the motion.
• Serve your Affidavit on every party who has filed a claim or defence in your case.
• File the Affidavit, with Affidavits of Service (Form 8A) proving service on each party whom you had to serve, at least 2 days before the motion hearing. [Lawyers and paralegals representing a party may be able to prove service using the Lawyer’s or Paralegal’s Certificate of Service (Form 8B) instead.]

Moving party’s supplementary Affidavit

If you are the moving party and you want to provide more information after receiving another party’s Affidavit, you can file a supplementary Affidavit (Form 15B), with proof of service on every party who has filed a claim or defence, at least 2 days before the motion hearing.

More information

Rule 15 of the Rules of the Small Claims Court governs motions.

For more information about motions, see the Motions and clerk’s orders section of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Guide to procedures in small claims court.