19 July 2026
Small Claims Court jurisdiction and how to size a claim
The $50,000 section 23 monetary limit, what counts toward it, splitting rules, and when to abandon the excess or issue in Superior Court.
Read guideGuides
Ontario legal guides
Plain-language explanations of the topics behind our calculators. These guides are general legal information - not legal advice. Every guide links to the official source.
Small Claims Court
19 July 2026
Ontario Small Claims Court fees in 2026
2026 clerk fees under O. Reg. 332/16 - claim, defence, motions, judgment, enforcement - with the frequent-claimant definition.
Read guide19 July 2026
Small Claims Court costs and the section 29 cap
How the 15% ordinary cap on costs other than disbursements works, when the exception can apply, and what Rule 14 offers can trigger.
Read guide19 July 2026
Wage and bank garnishment after a Small Claims Court judgment
The Wages Act 20% rule, Rule 20.08 joint-debt default, protected funds, and what the calculator cannot decide about ownership or support.
Read guide19 July 2026
Ontario Small Claims Court deadlines: Rule 3.01, six-month service, and before-hearing planning
How Rule 3.01 counts after-event deadlines, the 20-day Defence deadline and noting in default, the six-month claim-service window, and at-least-N-days-before-hearing planning.
Read guide19 July 2026
Defendant's Claim in the Ontario Small Claims Court
Rule 10.01: when the 20-day issuing window starts and who may be claimed against; and the separate Rule 10.03 defence deadline that runs from service of the Defendant's Claim.
Read guideLandlord & Tenant
19 July 2026
How to calculate Ontario rent arrears
Charging rent by period, applying the rent deposit, allocating tenant payments in date order, post-termination daily compensation, and preparing an LTB-ready ledger.
Read guide19 July 2026
Ontario rent-increase rules, explained
2026 and 2027 guidelines, the 12-month rule, the 90-day written-notice rule, N1 vs N2, and the post-15 November 2018 exemption.
Read guideInterest & Legal Fees
19 July 2026
Ontario prejudgment interest, explained
How prejudgment interest is set under the Courts of Justice Act, when it starts, and what rate applies to your quarter.
Read guide19 July 2026
Ontario postjudgment interest, explained
How postjudgment interest runs from the date of the order, how the quarterly rate is picked, and how partial payments are applied.
Read guide19 July 2026
HST on legal fees and disbursements
The CRA agency principle for lawyer disbursements: which pass through without HST and which are re-billed with HST.
Read guide19 July 2026
How to read an Ontario legal invoice
Common line items on a lawyer's bill, where HST applies, retainer credits, and questions to ask before you pay.
Read guideCanadian Law Student Guides
19 July 2026
How to research Canadian law on CanLII
Turning a question into concepts, running broad, balanced and narrow searches, verified CanLII syntax, filters, noting up, and evaluating results.
Read guide19 July 2026
How to read and brief a Canadian court decision
Style of cause, procedural history, material facts, issues, disposition, governing rule or test, ratio and obiter, and separate reasons.
Read guide19 July 2026
How to verify a Canadian legal citation
Identify the source type, collect metadata from the source itself, check every field, and understand what generators and checkers cannot do.
Read guideWhere to start
Each pathway reads in order. Later guides assume the earlier one.
Small Claims Court
Start with jurisdiction and claim value to decide whether the Small Claims Court is the right forum at all. Then read the fees guide before you file, so the cost of each step is not a surprise. If you have been served, go straight to the Defence deadline guide, then the Defendant's Claim guide if you have a claim of your own. Read the deadlines guide once, early: it explains the day-counting rule that every other date on your file depends on. Costs and garnishment come last, when there is a result to recover.
Landlord and tenant
If money is owed, read the rent arrears guide first and build the ledger before anything else. Read the daily compensation guide only if the tenancy has ended, since compensation and rent cannot both run for the same day. The rent increase guide is a separate track: read it when you are planning or checking an increase, not when you are calculating arrears.
Interest and legal fees
Prejudgment and postjudgment interest are two different regimes with two different start dates, so read whichever matches where your case is now. On the billing side, read the HST guide to understand why some disbursements carry tax and others pass through untaxed, then use the invoice guide to check a bill line by line.
Student learning
The three student guides follow the research cycle: find the law on CanLII, read and brief what you find, then verify every citation before it leaves your desk. They are Canada-wide, unlike the Ontario guides above.
How guides and calculators work together
A calculator gives you a number; the guide tells you whether the number means what you think it means. The guides set out the rule, the official source and the limits of the rule, including the parts a court or tribunal decides at its discretion. The calculators apply the arithmetic consistently once you have settled those inputs. Read the guide first when you are unsure what to enter, and read it again when a result looks surprising - the explanation is usually a legal assumption, not an arithmetic error. Every guide links to its companion calculator, and every calculator links back.