Know exactly what the court will charge before you file. Price every step of an Ontario Small Claims Court case — claim, defence, motions, default judgment, trial date, and enforcement — under O. Reg. 332/16, at both infrequent and frequent claimant rates. Updated for 2026.
· Reviewed by Jonathan Kleiman, J.D.
Every document you file in Ontario Small Claims Court carries its own fee, set province-wide by Ontario Regulation 332/16 under the Administration of Justice Act. This calculator gives Toronto litigants the exact cost of each step — and of the whole case — before any money changes hands, so the trial-date fee never arrives as a surprise and you can judge, with real numbers, whether handling it yourself or retaining flat-fee counsel makes more sense.
Two quick questions — pick who you are and what you're filing, and the exact fees add themselves up.
Ontario charges court fees per document, not per case. Each filing — the claim, the defence, every motion, the trial-date request, every enforcement step — triggers its own fee under O. Reg. 332/16, payable to the Minister of Finance at the moment of filing. The fees are identical across the province, so a claim issued at the Toronto Small Claims Court (47 Sheppard Avenue East) costs exactly what it would in Mississauga or Ottawa. What sneaks up on people is the accumulation: a defended claim that goes the distance costs an infrequent plaintiff $416 in court fees alone — $108 to issue the claim and $308 to fix the trial date — before a single dollar of service, witness, or enforcement cost.
The regulation splits claimants into infrequent (fewer than 10 claims filed in that court office that calendar year) and frequent (10 or more). Almost every individual and small business is infrequent. The split touches only three fees — issuing a claim ($108 vs $228), requesting default judgment ($94 vs $128), and fixing a trial date ($308 vs $403) — but for volume filers like collection agencies and large landlords it roughly doubles the cost of starting an action.
| Step | Infrequent | Frequent |
|---|---|---|
| Filing a Plaintiff's Claim (Form 7A) | $108 | $228 |
| Filing a Defendant's Claim (Form 10A) | $108 | $108 |
| Filing a Defence (Form 9A) | $77 | $77 |
| Filing a Notice of Motion (Form 15A) | $127 | $127 |
| Request for Default Judgment (Form 11B) | $94 | $128 |
| Fixing a date for trial or assessment | $308 | $403 |
| Issuing a Summons to Witness (Form 18A) | $33 | $33 |
| Issuing a Notice of Garnishment (Form 20E) | $144 | $144 |
| Issuing a Writ of Seizure and Sale or Writ of Delivery | $68 | $68 |
| Issuing a Notice of Examination (Form 20H) | $68 | $68 |
| Issuing a Certificate of Judgment | $30 | $30 |
Source: O. Reg. 332/16 and Ontario.ca — Small Claims Court Fees, verified June 2026. Fee waivers are available for low-income litigants under the Administration of Justice Act.
After fifteen years of Small Claims files, the same budgeting errors come up again and again — and most of them are avoidable with five minutes of arithmetic before filing:
The honest math: court filing fees are the cheapest part of a Small Claims case. The expensive parts are mistakes — suing the wrong entity, missing a limitation deadline, pleading the claim badly, walking into a settlement conference without a strategy — and your own time, which a contested claim consumes by the dozens of hours. Two facts tilt the analysis toward at least pricing out counsel: the court can award the successful party up to 15% of the amount claimed in representation fees (so a represented win subsidizes itself — the cost award calculator shows how much), and flat-fee representation converts an unpredictable cost into a fixed one you can weigh against the claim's value, the same way this calculator fixes the court fees. A free 30-minute consultation is the cheap way to find out what that looks like for your case.
Free 30-minute consultation. Get a flat-fee quote and a realistic read on what your claim is worth pursuing.
Filing fees are one input. The Small Claims Court Calculator rolls your principal, pre-judgment interest, and recoverable costs into a single claim value; the Cost Award Calculator shows what the loser can be ordered to repay you — these filing fees included; the Prejudgment and Postjudgment Interest Calculators handle the interest math on its own; and the Limitation Period Calculator tells you whether you still have time to file at all. If you're not sure which courthouse is yours, the Ontario court locations directory has every Small Claims office in the province.
Check the deadline before you spend a dollar on fees. A claim filed after the limitation period is money thrown away — run your dates through the Limitation Period Calculator first, then budget the fees, then file. If anything looks tight, book a free consultation the same day.
Filing a Plaintiff's Claim costs $108 for an infrequent claimant and $228 for a frequent claimant under O. Reg. 332/16. The fee is flat — the same whether you are suing for $500 or the $50,000 Small Claims maximum. But filing is only the first fee: a defended claim that reaches the trial-date step costs an infrequent plaintiff $416 in court fees ($108 + $308), before service and enforcement costs.
A frequent claimant has already filed 10 or more claims in the same court office in the same calendar year. Everyone else — including virtually all first-time and occasional litigants — is infrequent. The distinction changes three fees: the claim ($108 → $228), default judgment ($94 → $128), and the trial date ($308 → $403). The count resets every January 1 and is tracked per court office.
Fixing a date for trial or assessment costs $308 (infrequent) or $403 (frequent) — the single largest fee in a Small Claims case. It is payable when a party asks the clerk to set the matter down for trial after the settlement conference, and it is the fee litigants most often forget to budget for.
Usually, yes. The successful party can recover court filing fees, service costs, and other reasonable disbursements from the losing party as part of a costs award — and the court may award up to 15% of the amount claimed in representation fees if you had a lawyer or paralegal. You front the fees and must remember to claim them, but a win normally puts them back in your pocket. The cost award calculator prices the full recovery.
Ontario has a fee waiver program under the Administration of Justice Act. If paying would cause financial hardship, ask court staff for a fee waiver request form — eligibility is based on income, family size, and assets. If granted, most Small Claims Court fees are waived going forward. Ask before you pay: the waiver is not a refund mechanism.
Fees are paid as each document is filed. Online through the Small Claims Court online filing service, you pay by credit or debit card at submission. At the court counter — in Toronto, 47 Sheppard Avenue East — you can generally pay by debit, cash, or cheque or money order payable to the Minister of Finance.
Yes. Filing a Defence is $77 for every defendant, regardless of claimant status. If you also counterclaim, sue a co-defendant, or pull in a third party, a Defendant's Claim is a flat $108. Motions along the way are $127 each. If you've been sued, the Small Claims defence page covers your options.
No. The fees are set province-wide by O. Reg. 332/16, so they are identical in every Small Claims Court office. What varies locally is everything around the fees — process server pricing, courthouse logistics, and how busy the office is. Find your courthouse in the court locations directory.
Jonathan Kleiman helps businesses and individuals recover debts, enforce contracts, and win Small Claims Court disputes throughout Toronto and Ontario — on flat fees quoted up front, so the legal cost is as predictable as the court fees you just calculated.
Describe your dispute and Jonathan will contact you — usually the same day.
This page provides general legal information about Ontario court fees. It is not legal advice and is not tailored to your circumstances. Using this tool does not create a lawyer–client relationship with Kleiman Law. The fee amounts encoded here are taken from O. Reg. 332/16 under the Administration of Justice Act and were verified against the official e-Laws consolidation and the published Ontario fee schedule on ; fees change from time to time, and this page may not reflect changes after that date. Your filing may attract fees this tool does not list, and court staff apply the regulation — not this page. No warranty is given as to accuracy or completeness, and Kleiman Law accepts no liability for reliance on this tool. Confirm the current fee with the court office or the official Ontario fee schedule before paying, and consult a lawyer about your specific situation — especially before deciding whether a claim is worth its costs.
Book a free 30-minute consultation with Jonathan. Tell your story, get the fees and a flat-fee quote on the table, and leave knowing exactly what pursuing your claim will cost — and what it should recover.