An eleven-point review worksheet
Work down the account in this order and tick each row before moving on. Reading the account in the order it was printed tends to draw your eye to the total; reading it in the order below tends to surface the questions worth asking.
| # | Block to check | What a complete account lets you confirm |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engagement and scope | The matter, the period covered, and that the work billed falls inside the retainer you agreed to |
| 2 | Fee model | Whether the fee is hourly, a flat or block amount, contingency-based, or a combination |
| 3 | Service description | A description of the services rendered, sufficient for you to identify what was done |
| 4 | Fees charged | The fee amount attributable to the described services for the period |
| 5 | Disbursements, itemized | Each amount paid out or charged, listed separately rather than lumped into one figure |
| 6 | HST | The tax line, and which components it was calculated on |
| 7 | Retainer or trust credit | Money already held, and the amount transferred against this account |
| 8 | Prior payments and credits | Earlier payments, write-offs or adjustments carried into this account |
| 9 | Interest term | Whether interest is charged, at what rate, and from what date |
| 10 | Arithmetic balance | Gross total less credits equals the balance shown, to the cent |
| 11 | Questions for the firm | A short written list of anything in rows 1 to 10 you could not confirm |
How much detail an account must contain
It is often said that a legal account must break every charge down to the hour. That overstates the position. Subsection 2(3) of the Solicitors Act contemplates an account that sets out a reasonable description of the services rendered together with a lump-sum fee amount, provided disbursements and charges are set out in detail. A bill can therefore be properly rendered without an hour-by-hour docket attached.
That is not the end of it. Further detail can be ordered in the course of the procedures the Act provides, and a firm may be willing to provide a breakdown simply because you ask. The practical sequence is to ask first and treat the absence of dockets as a question, not as proof of a defect. Read the section itself in the current consolidation before relying on any summary of it, including this one.
Fee disputes and conduct complaints are different things
People often use one word, complaint, for two separate routes with different decision makers, different questions and different outcomes.
| Question you are raising | Where it generally belongs | What to be aware of |
|---|---|---|
| The amount charged is too high, or I cannot reconcile it | A fee dispute with the firm, and if unresolved the procedures available under the Solicitors Act | The Law Society's guidance on legal fees asks you to raise the account with the lawyer or firm first |
| The licensee behaved improperly | A regulatory complaint to the Law Society of Ontario | A conduct complaint is not a mechanism for reducing or refunding an account |
| My bill is from a paralegal | Routes differ between lawyers' accounts and paralegal fees | Do not assume the assessment procedure for a lawyer's bill applies unchanged; check the applicable process |
Whichever route fits, the first step in the Law Society's published guidance is to discuss the account with the lawyer or firm directly. A written list of specific line-item questions is more effective than a general objection to the total.
Timing, in general terms only
Timing matters, and it is easy to get wrong. As a general proposition, starting an assessment of a lawyer's bill more than one month after the bill was delivered ordinarily requires permission from the court. But that proposition carries real qualifications: special circumstances, whether the account has been paid, whether a judgment has been obtained, and the treatment of contingency arrangements can all change the analysis.
For that reason this site deliberately does not offer a deadline calculator for legal accounts. A single date produced from two inputs would be misleading here. If timing could matter to you, read the Act and get advice promptly rather than waiting for a calculation.
If the account charges interest
Where interest is charged on an unpaid account, the framework in the current section 33 of the Solicitors Act is the place to start. Under that section interest runs from a point one month after the bill is delivered, and the rate that applies is to be stated on the bill itself. Two checks follow from that:
- Is a rate actually printed on the account, or only referenced in the retainer?
- Does the start date used for any interest already charged sit at least one month after delivery of the bill, on the delivery date the firm is relying on?
- Does the interest amount shown reconcile against the outstanding balance, the stated rate and the elapsed period?
Common mistakes when reviewing an account
- Checking only the total. Most reconcilable errors are inside a block, not in the final line.
- Applying the retainer credit before the tax line rather than against the gross total, which produces a balance that will never match the account.
- Assuming every court-related payment is a pass-through, or that everything the firm paid out attracts tax. Classification depends on the facts of the payment.
- Treating the absence of an hourly docket as proof of an improper account, when the Act contemplates a reasonable description with a lump-sum fee.
- Paying an account you cannot reconcile in order to preserve goodwill, without first putting your questions in writing and dating them.
- Filing a conduct complaint when the real issue is the amount, then finding it does not produce a reduction.
What this guide cannot determine
- Whether your account is reasonable, excessive, valid, assessable, refundable or enforceable. This page makes no such assessment about any account.
- Whether a specific disbursement was properly incurred or correctly classified for tax.
- Whether a retainer agreement or contingency arrangement is enforceable.
- Whether any time period applies to you, or whether permission would be granted.
- What a court, assessment officer or regulator would do with your file.
Do not send bills, dockets or confidential file details to this site. The Feedback and Corrections form is for corrections to these pages only, and nothing sent through it creates a professional relationship or is reviewed as a legal matter.
Practical next steps
- Complete the eleven-point worksheet on a copy of the account and mark each row confirmed, unclear or missing.
- Reproduce the arithmetic independently with the Ontario Legal Fees and HST Calculator before you raise anything with the firm.
- If the tax line is what puzzles you, read the HST on legal fees and disbursements guide, which explains the as-agent distinction that drives the taxable subtotal.
- Send the firm your written questions, keeping the date of delivery of the account and the date of your letter.
- Read the Solicitors Act, the Law Society's pages on complaints about legal fees and fees and disbursements, and its HST page for the billing context.
- Get independent advice before paying, disputing or ignoring an account you question.
Legal information reviewed: 21 August 2026. Checked against the official sources listed on this page. Rates, fees and rules change; confirm anything you rely on.
Worked example
Fictional account. Fees for the period $2,500; a disbursement not incurred as agent $100; a disbursement incurred as agent $200; HST $338; retainer credit already held and applied $1,000.
Check the taxable subtotal. $2,500 + $100 = $2,600. At the Ontario ordinary rate of 13%, assumed here rather than confirmed, $2,600 × 0.13 = $338.00, which matches the HST line on the account. Where the applicable rate is in question, resolve that first: the rate follows the place-of-supply rules, not the firm's address.
Check the gross total. $2,500 + $100 + $200 + $338 = $3,138.00. The as-agent disbursement sits outside the tax calculation but inside the gross total.
Check the balance. $3,138.00 − $1,000.00 retainer credit = $2,138.00. That is the arithmetic balance for this account.
What that does and does not establish. The account is internally consistent: every line reconciles. Arithmetic agreement says nothing about whether the work was necessary, whether the amount is reasonable, or whether the account is valid. Those are separate questions on separate routes.
Fictional teaching example - not legal authority.
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Revision note
We publish corrections when readers identify inaccuracies. Please submit corrections through the Feedback & Corrections form.