How to Sue Someone in Ontario (2026): The Real Steps, Costs, and Which Court

This article explains how suing someone works in Ontario as of 2026 and is general information, not legal advice. The rules and figures come from Ontario's official court resources, the Courts of Justice Act, the Rules of Civil Procedure, and the Limitations Act, 2002. Your own situation may differ, and a lawyer or licensed paralegal can advise on it.

Learning how to sue someone in Ontario usually starts with a knot in your stomach: a contractor took your deposit and disappeared, a client will not pay a $9,000 invoice, or a friend never returned the loan you both swore was ironclad. Suing is rarely the first move, and it is almost never the fast one, but understanding how the process works turns a stressful unknown into a series of clear decisions you can actually make. The first of those decisions is which court your claim belongs in, so enter the amount you are owed below to see it right away.

This guide walks through those decisions in the order they arise: whether you have a real case, how much time is left to act, which court your claim belongs in, what a lawsuit actually costs, and whether you can collect at the end. If you would rather have someone assess it for you first, Olanur can match you with a vetted Ontario lawyer or paralegal for free, with no calls and no pressure.

How to sue someone in Ontario: the quick answer

Suing in Ontario is less about paperwork and more about five decisions made in the right order. Here is the short version, unpacked in full below.

• Confirm you have a real claim. You need a legal basis (an unpaid debt, a broken contract, damage to property), evidence to prove it, and a defendant who can actually pay.
• Watch the two-year deadline. Under the Limitations Act, 2002, most claims have to be started within two years of when you knew about the problem.
• The dollar amount picks the court. Up to $50,000 goes to Small Claims Court; $50,001 to $200,000 uses the Superior Court's Simplified Procedure; over $200,000 uses the full Superior Court process.
• Try a demand letter first. A clear written demand settles a large share of disputes, and it costs nothing to send.
• Filing is cheaper than people expect. It costs $108 to start a Small Claims claim and $243 to issue a Superior Court claim, as of 2026.
• Winning is not the same as collecting. The court does not collect your money for you, so enforcement is a separate step you handle yourself.

Step 1: Confirm you actually have a case

You have a case when three things line up: a legal wrong (an unpaid debt, a broken contract, property damage), evidence to prove it, and a defendant who can realistically pay. If any one is missing, a lawsuit rarely pays off.

The legal wrong is your cause of action, the reason the law lets you recover. Most everyday claims fall into a short list: money lent and not repaid, an invoice a customer refuses to settle, a deposit a business kept, or damage someone caused to your car or property. The evidence is what turns your version into a provable one: contracts, invoices, receipts, photos, and the text or email trail that shows what was agreed.

Consider a homeowner in Mississauga who paid a contractor a $6,200 deposit for a bathroom renovation that never started. She has a signed quote, an e-transfer record, and weeks of unanswered messages. That is a clean, provable claim, and at $6,200 it sits comfortably within Small Claims Court. Our guide to Small Claims Court in Ontario covers exactly what you can and cannot sue for there. When a dispute is tangled up with bigger commercial questions, our breakdown of the legal issues businesses overlook explains when a claim outgrows the simple route.

Step 2: Check the two-year deadline before anything else

Most Ontario claims have to be started within two years of when you knew, or reasonably should have known, about the problem. This is the basic limitation period under the Limitations Act, 2002, and missing it usually ends even a strong case.

The clock does not always start on the day the money was owed. It generally starts when you first knew you had a claim, which the law calls discoverability, and a few situations pause or extend it. Two years can feel like a long runway, but it passes quickly while you wait for a promised payment, chase the other side informally, or simply put off dealing with it. Because the start date is not always obvious, confirming your specific deadline early is worth doing, and plain-language resources like Steps to Justice can help you frame the timing. If you are close to the two-year mark, getting advice quickly matters more than getting everything perfect.

Step 3: Which court do you sue in?

The amount you are claiming decides the court. Up to $50,000 goes to Small Claims Court; $50,001 to $200,000 goes to the Superior Court's Simplified Procedure; anything over $200,000 uses the full Superior Court process. One category skips this question altogether: a dispute between a residential landlord and tenant goes to the Landlord and Tenant Board regardless of the amount, because a different statute governs it. Most of those files begin with a prescribed notice rather than a claim, and our guide to what an N4, N11, N12 or N13 actually starts sets out which one applies.

That single number shapes everything that follows: the filing fee, whether a paralegal can represent you, how long it takes, and how much it costs. As of October 1, 2025, Ontario raised the Small Claims Court limit from $35,000 to $50,000 (O. Reg. 42/25 under the Courts of Justice Act), pulling thousands more everyday disputes into the faster, simpler court. The table below shows how the three venues compare.

The court router at the top of this guide turns a specific amount into the exact venue, the fee, and who can act for you.

Take a Toronto design studio owed $85,000 on unpaid invoices by a former client. That sits above the Small Claims ceiling, so it belongs in the Superior Court under the Simplified Procedure, a faster Rule 76 track with capped discovery and a shorter trial. A claimant whose amount lands just over $50,000 sometimes chooses to give up the excess and stay in Small Claims for the speed and lower cost, a genuine trade-off worth weighing. One more number matters here: since October 2025, you can only appeal a Small Claims decision if the amount in dispute is above $5,000. For the full mechanics of the smaller court, filing Form 7A, the settlement conference, and enforcement, our Small Claims Court Ontario guide is the companion to this one.

Step 4: Send a demand letter before you file

Before filing anything, a demand letter often ends the matter. It is a short written notice that states what you are owed, why, and a firm deadline to pay before you take legal action, and it resolves a large share of disputes at almost no cost.

A good demand letter is calm and specific: the amount, the facts behind it, the documents you hold, and a reasonable date to respond, often 7 to 14 days. Sending it on a lawyer's or paralegal's letterhead can change how seriously the other side takes it, but a clear letter from you can carry weight on its own. Keep a copy and proof of delivery, because if the dispute does end up in court, the letter shows you acted reasonably and gave the other side a fair chance to settle. Many people who feel ready to sue find that a well-written demand gets them paid without ever filing a claim. Our companion guide on how to write a demand letter in Ontario breaks down the seven parts that make one work.

How a lawsuit actually moves through the courts

Once a demand fails, a lawsuit follows a set path: you issue a claim, serve the defendant, wait for their defence, exchange evidence, attend a settlement step, and, only if nothing resolves, go to trial. Most cases settle well before that last stage.

Here is the sequence in plain terms, whichever court you are in:

1. Issue the claim. You prepare the court document that starts the case, a Plaintiff's Claim (Form 7A) in Small Claims Court or a Statement of Claim in the Superior Court, set out the facts and the amount, and file it with the court.
2. Serve the defendant. The claim has to be formally delivered to the person you are suing under the court's service rules, and you then prove you did it.
3. Wait for the defence. The defendant has a set window to respond, 20 days after being served in Small Claims Court. If they do not, you may be able to ask for default judgment.
4. Exchange evidence and try to settle. The sides share documents, and Small Claims cases go through a mandatory settlement conference with a judge whose read on the case pushes many disputes to a deal.
5. Go to trial, if it comes to that. A judge hears the evidence and decides. A clear, organized story backed by your documents matters far more than legal polish.

Getting the early steps right is what protects a strong case. Serving the defendant incorrectly and missing the two-year deadline are the two mistakes that most often sink claims that would otherwise have won. You can find the official documents on Ontario Court Forms and step-by-step filing help on Ontario's suing someone in Small Claims Court page.

What it really costs to sue someone in Ontario

Court fees are modest; the real cost is professional help, and it should be weighed against the size of your claim. The table below shows the main filing fees as of 2026, drawn from Ontario's court fee regulations.

The lawyer and paralegal figures are typical 2026 market ranges, not quotes; the actual cost depends on how hard the case is fought. Two rules soften the sting of losing. In Small Claims Court, a judge will generally not order the losing side to pay more than 15% of the amount claimed toward the winner's legal fees (Courts of Justice Act, s. 29), which keeps the court accessible. And in most Ontario cases, costs follow the event, meaning the loser usually pays part of the winner's costs, though rarely all of them.

The right route also depends on what the dispute is really about. If it centres on unpaid wages or a severance package, the numbers and the route can differ, which our guides on how much severance you are entitled to in Ontario and wrongful dismissal in Ontario explain. Deposit and contract disputes tied to a home purchase can also be larger than they look, as our breakdown of real estate lawyer fees in Ontario shows. Where the dispute is about something registered against a title, suing the party responsible often comes first by law, because Ontario's compensation fund only pays once you cannot recover elsewhere, a sequence our guide to title insurance in Ontario sets out.

Winning is not collecting: can the other side pay?

Winning a judgment is only half the job, and it is the half people underestimate. The court does not collect your money for you; a judgment is permission to enforce, not a cheque in the mail.

If the defendant will not pay voluntarily, Ontario gives you enforcement tools. You can garnish their wages or bank account, redirecting money owed to them straight to you. You can obtain a writ of seizure and sale so the sheriff can seize and sell their property. And you can request an examination hearing, where the debtor answers questions under oath about their income and assets so you know which tool to use. Each step has its own form and small fee. A defendant with no income or assets, sometimes called judgment-proof, can still be hard to collect from, which is why thinking honestly about whether the other side can pay is wise before you ever file. Our Small Claims Court guide walks through the enforcement steps in detail.

When to talk to a lawyer or paralegal

You can run many claims yourself, especially straightforward Small Claims matters, but some situations tilt the odds sharply toward getting help. It is often worth talking to a professional when:

• Your claim is near or above $50,000, where a Superior Court action and its higher stakes come into play.
• The other side already has a lawyer, which changes the balance of a self-represented case.
• The facts are complex or turn on contract interpretation rather than a simple unpaid bill.
• Your deadline is close, since a missed limitation period is usually unfixable.
• You are unsure whether you even have a case, and a short paid consultation can save months.

If you are weighing it, our guides on whether you need a lawyer in Canada, how to find a trustworthy lawyer, and the broader how to find a lawyer in Canada walk through choosing the right person for the job.

How Olanur helps you sue the right way

We built Olanur to remove the hardest step in getting legal help: figuring out which professional actually fits your situation. Instead of cold-calling firms, you describe your dispute once, and our matching system connects you with verified Ontario lawyers and paralegals who handle claims like yours. There is no cost, no sign-up wall, and no obligation.

The disputes people bring to us most often are the everyday ones, unpaid invoices, unreturned deposits, and money owed between people who once trusted each other, which are exactly the claims this guide is about. If you would rather see how the matching works first, our walkthrough of how Olanur works explains it step by step, and lawyer lookup in Ontario covers the Ontario-specific ways to find vetted legal help.

Frequently asked questions

Before you file your claim

Knowing how to sue someone in Ontario is really a series of decisions, not a single leap: confirm your claim is real and provable, act inside the two-year window, match the dollar amount to the right court, try a demand letter, and think ahead about whether you can actually collect. Get those in order and even a self-represented claimant can do well.

If you would rather have a professional assess your case or take it on, Olanur can match you with a verified Ontario lawyer or paralegal, free and with no pressure. You can also start a claim and find current forms through Ontario's Small Claims Court resources or the official Ontario Court Forms.