| Toronto SCJ |
Settlement Conference, Motion, Trial Management Conference, Appeal, Hague Application, Trial |
Attendance in Person |
2. As much as possible, settlement conferences, trial management conferences, long motions, appeals, Hague hearings and trials will be taking place in-person, unless the parties are notified otherwise by way of email from the Trial Coordinator’s Office. Case conferences and simple motions will still take place by video or teleconference.
3. Where counsel and/or a party are not prepared to return to court, they should advise both the other side and the Trial Coordinator’s Office and the matter will proceed by Zoom or teleconference. |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Case Conference |
Attendance in Person |
1. Case conference will continue to take place virtually. Closer to the conference date, the conference coordinator will send an email to the parties or counsel confirming both the date and time of the conference and providing the parties with the teleconference or Zoom information.
3. Where counsel and/or a party are not prepared to return to court, they should advise both the other side and the Trial Coordinator’s Office and the matter will proceed by Zoom or teleconference. |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
Service – Regular |
4. All documents that may be served by regular service, may be served by email. |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
Filing – Standard |
5. All documents filed electronically shall be filed using Justice Services Online (the Family Submissions Online portal), unless:
• Your matter is urgent;
• You are filing for a court event that is less than five business days away; or
• You are filing a confirmation form.
6. If your matter is urgent or you are filing a confirmation form, documents filed electronically must be filed by email as outlined below.
7. If you are electronically filing a document for a court event that is less than five business days away, you must file by email to Toronto.SCJ.FAMILYINTAKE@ontario.ca.
8. Unless urgent, all Applications and Motion to Change filed electronically for issuance shall be filed using Justice Services Online, along with other necessary documents as required under the Family Law Rules. You will receive an electronic copy of your court-issued Application or Motion to change by email, including a court file number and date of issuance.
9. All documents served or filed electronically shall be named in a manner that identifies it clearly so that it is not necessary to open the document to understand what it is. Specifically, parties shall use the file naming instructions set out in section B.12 below.
10. Unless specifically set out below, confirmation forms must be filed in advance of all scheduled matters, as set out in the Family Law Rules and Practice Directions or the matter will not proceed as scheduled.
11. Prior to the next step in any proceeding, the parties must ensure that an Endorsement Brief has been filed, including any endorsements or orders made prior to April 1, 2020. Any requests to court staff for copies of prior endorsements should be done by email so as to limit in-person attendances at courthouses.
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https://www.ontario.ca/page/file-family-court-documents-online |
Toronto.SCJ.FAMILYINTAKE@ontario.ca |
https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
Filing – Less than 5 days prior to attendance |
7. If you are electronically filing a document for a court event that is less than five business days away, you must file by email to Toronto.SCJ.FAMILYINTAKE@ontario.ca.
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Toronto.SCJ.FAMILYINTAKE@ontario.ca |
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| Toronto SCJ |
Case Conference, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference |
Scheduling |
12. Conferences can be booked in two ways:
a. On consent of all parties, finding a date using https://calendly.com/conference-booking. If there are no dates available through Calendly, the Conference Coordinator may be able to provide additional dates. See (b) below.
b. Emailing the Conference Coordinator at: Toronto.family.caseconferences@ontario.ca. The Conference Coordinator will provide three dates. The date will only be booked upon the party confirming, by email, the chosen date. A Conference Notice will then have to be served on the other side and filed, along with an affidavit of service.
13. A party booking a conference on the Calendly link above shall add the opposing party (or their lawyer if represented) as a “guest” (option available on form) by including the email address of the opposing party or of the opposing party’s lawyer.
** REMINDER: materials for the party who is requesting the conference are due (6) days before. |
https://calendly.com/conference-booking |
mailto:Toronto.family.caseconferences@ontario.ca |
https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Case Conference, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference |
Briefs / Page Limits |
14. Case conference briefs are limited to six (6) pages in length, double spaced and at least 12-point font size. Anything greater than six (6) pages will not be read by the designated judge. Schedules or tabs attached that provide background or a summary of the issues are not included in the six-page limit.
15. Settlement conference briefs are limited to ten (10) pages in length. The page limit does not include net family property statements, financial statements, Supportmate calculations and reports.
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Motion |
Scheduling |
16. Due to capacity restrictions at the courthouse, the Court is unable to resume offering open motion dates. Motion dates must be booked in advance.
17. A motion date can be obtained by emailing the Motion Coordinator at: FamilyTrialOffice-SCJ-Toronto@ontario.ca. The Motion Coordinator will provide three dates. The date will only be booked upon the party confirming, by email, the chosen date. All timelines set out in the Family Law Rules continue to apply. |
mailto:FamilyTrialOffice-SCJ-Toronto@ontario.ca |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Motion |
Materials |
18. The court expects parties will only submit brief materials to allow for a fair, timely and summary disposition. Every effort must be made to keep materials brief. Parties filing unnecessary voluminous material may be subject to a cost order at the discretion of the presiding judge even if successful on the motion.
19. All exhibits shall be bookmarked for ease of reference. If possible, pages should be numbered.
20. All motions require factums, served and filed at least two days before the motion.
21. The court welcomes counsel and parties to provide draft orders with their motion materials in Word.
22. Bills of costs shall be filed along with motion material, if costs are requested by either party on the motion.
23. No Books of Authority containing the full text of authorities may be emailed or filed. Each party’s factum shall instead hyperlink authorities to a publicly available, free website such as CanLII. The factum must include paragraph references each time a case it is cited in the factum.
24. Excerpts of authorities that are not available on a free public website, such as excerpts from textbooks or unreported decisions, should be collected in a small brief of excerpts of unreported authorities and filed electronically in PDF format.
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Case Conference |
Urgent |
26. If an urgent conference is required, a party can try to obtain an early conference date through the conference coordinator by either party sending an email to: Toronto.family.caseconferences@ontario.ca along with their case conference brief. If an early conference date is available, the conference coordinator will provide the parties with the date, time and the contact information for the conference call or videoconference for the case conference.
27. If an early conference date is available, the conference coordinator will provide the parties with the date, time and the contact information for the conference call or videoconference for the case conference.
28. For urgent conferences only, the other party’s case conference brief shall be filed by emailing the brief and affidavit of service to Toronto.family.caseconferences@ontario.ca and filing a copy through the Family Submissions Online portal.
29. For urgent conferences only, the other party’s case conference brief shall be filed by emailing the brief and affidavit of service to Toronto.family.caseconferences@ontario.ca.
30. No confirmation form is required prior to an urgent conference once the parties have confirmed the date and time with the conference coordinator’s office.
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mailto:Toronto.family.caseconferences@ontario.ca |
https://www.ontario.ca/page/file-family-court-documents-online |
https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Case Conference, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Motion |
Confirmations |
10. Unless specifically set out below, confirmation forms must be filed in advance of all scheduled matters, as set out in the Family Law Rules and Practice Directions or the matter will not proceed as scheduled: Toronto.SCJ.Familyintake@ontario.ca
30. No confirmation form is required prior to an urgent conference once the parties have confirmed the date and time with the conference coordinator’s office.
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Toronto.SCJ.Familyintake@ontario.ca |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Motion |
Urgent |
31. If an urgent motion is required, a party must:
a. Serve the motion material on the opposing party or parties by email (if not an ex-parte motion); and
b. Filing the motion material, a draft order and a populated restraining order if appropriate (and affidavit of service if not an ex-parte motion) by emailing the motion material to FamilyTrialOffice-SCJ-Toronto@ontario.ca. The subject heading on the email shall read “Urgent Motion”.
32. The trial coordinator shall seek direction from a presiding judge as to whether the motion is urgent and will be heard. There is no change to the threshold for urgent motions that existed pre-COVID.
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Motion to Change |
DRO |
Motions to Change, not on consent, shall proceed to a case conference, until further notice of recommencement of the DRO program. |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
Self-represented litigants |
33. Self-represented litigants are expected to comply with the process set out in this Notice.
34. If litigants need help determining whether their matter is urgent and understanding the resources that are available, they may wish to contact the Law Society of Ontario’s emergency family law referral line at:
Toll-free: 1-800-268-7568
General: 416-947-3310
This service will provide ½ hour of free legal advice, including referrals to other services.
35. Duty counsel through Legal Aid Ontario is available to provide summary legal advice for family law and Children’s Aid Society matters. As of March 27, 2020, they are waiving the financial eligibility requirements. Duty counsel can be reached at:
Toll-free: 1-800-668-8258
General: 416-979-1446
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/family/ |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
Interpretor |
36. If an interpreter is required for any matter, the trial coordinator must be notified when the matter is scheduled. The court is only responsible for providing interpreters in specific circumstances, otherwise parties are responsible for ensuring they have made their own arrangements for an interpreter to attend.
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
Expedited Order Entering |
37. If, due to the nature of an order, the order needs to be entered on an expedited basis, arrangements should be made with court staff by emailing: Toronto.SCJ.FAMILYINTAKE@ontario.ca. |
mailto:Toronto.SCJ.FAMILYINTAKE@ontario.ca |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |
| Toronto SCJ |
Issuing, DRO, Case Conference, Motion, Motion to Change, Settlement Conference, Trial Management Conference, Hague Application, Trial, Appeal |
File Naming Instructions |
Example: Form 13.1 Financial Statement – Respondent – A. Wong – 21-NOV-2021
The table of prefixes is available at the following: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/files/notices/family-prefixes.pdf
The court file number is located on the top right corner of the issued Application and all subsequent documents.
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/files/notices/family-prefixes.pdf |
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https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/notice-to/ |
15/03/2021 |