How to Serve a Claim in Ontario Small Claims Court

Your claim is filed, the clerk has issued it with a court file number, and now the clock is ticking. You have exactly six months to serve the defendant — and how you do it determines whether your case moves forward or stalls.

The Six-Month Deadline

Rule 8.01(2) of the Rules of the Small Claims Court requires that a Plaintiff's Claim (Form 7A) be served on every defendant within six months of the date it was issued by the clerk. Not six months from when you started preparing the claim, or from when you decided to sue — from the date on the issued form.

If you can't serve within six months, you must apply to the court for an extension before the deadline expires. This requires a motion ($127 filing fee) supported by evidence that you made diligent attempts to locate and serve the defendant. Letting the deadline pass without an extension doesn't automatically void your claim, but it creates a serious procedural obstacle.

Personal Service

Personal service is the most reliable method, and Rule 8.02 sets out what it looks like for each type of defendant:

Individuals: Hand a copy of the claim directly to the person. You don't need to explain what it is or wait for them to read it. The moment the document is in their hands (or at their feet if they refuse to take it), service is complete.

Corporations: Hand the claim to an officer, director, or the person apparently in charge at the registered office or main place of business. You cannot serve a corporation by handing it to any random employee.

Partnerships: Hand it to any one partner, or to the person apparently managing the business at the main place of business.

Sole proprietors: Hand it to the sole proprietor personally.

You can serve the claim yourself, have any other adult do it, or hire a professional process server. The advantage of a process server ($50 to $150 depending on the location) is that they produce clean, reliable Affidavits of Service and know how to handle evasive defendants.

Alternative Service (Rule 8.03)

When personal service isn't practical, Rule 8.03 provides alternatives — but these are not interchangeable shortcuts. Each has specific requirements:

Individuals: Leave a copy of the claim at the person's residence with an adult member of the household, and mail a second copy to the same address the same day or the next day. Both steps are mandatory — leaving a copy without mailing, or mailing without leaving, is defective.

Corporations: Send by registered mail or courier to the registered office address, or leave a copy with a person apparently managing the registered office.

Partnerships and sole proprietors: Leave a copy with a person apparently managing the business at the principal place of business, and mail a second copy the same day or next day.

For service that includes mailing, determine the effective service date under Rule 8.03 before counting the defendant's response period; it may differ from the mailing date.

Substituted Service (Rule 8.04)

If personal and alternative service both fail after exhaustive attempts, you can ask the court for an order permitting substituted service — service by an unconventional method. This requires a motion without notice under Rule 8.04, supported by a sworn Affidavit detailing:

• Every attempt you made to locate and serve the defendant
• Why personal and alternative service are not possible
• The proposed substituted method (email, service on a family member, posting at a last known address)
• Evidence that the proposed method will bring the claim to the defendant's attention

Substituted service is not valid without a court order. You cannot decide on your own to serve by email or text message because the defendant is hard to reach — that requires judicial authorization.

Proving Service: Form 8A

No matter how you served the claim, you must file an Affidavit of Service (Form 8A) with the court to prove it happened. This sworn document includes:

• The deponent's name (the person who served the document)
• What was served (the issued Plaintiff's Claim)
• The exact date, time, and address of service
• The method used (personal, alternative, or substituted under a court order)
• Exhibits proving delivery (registered mail tracking, courier receipt, or a description of the personal delivery)

Form 8A must be sworn or affirmed before a Commissioner for Taking Affidavits. Many paralegal offices, court offices, and legal aid clinics provide commissioning services (sometimes free, sometimes for a small fee).

Without a properly completed Form 8A, the court won't accept that service occurred. This means you can't request a default judgment, and the case won't move to a settlement conference.

Service Outside Ontario

If the defendant is elsewhere in Canada or in the United States, Rule 8.07 permits service outside Ontario. The defendant then gets an extended response time — 30 calendar days instead of 20. For defendants outside Canada and the US, the response period extends to 60 days.

International service (outside North America) may be governed by the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents, which has its own requirements.

Practical Tips

• Start serving early. Don't wait until month five of the six-month window to try.
• For evasive individuals, consider hiring a process server who specializes in skip tracing.
• If you're serving a corporation, pull an up-to-date corporate profile from the Ontario Business Registry — the registered office address changes when a company moves.
• Keep copies of everything: tracking numbers, courier receipts, photos of where you left documents.
• If you're doing alternative service by leaving plus mailing, do both on the same day. The rules say "same day or next day" for the mailing, but same-day eliminates any argument about timing.

For the complete filing-to-hearing roadmap — including what happens after service, the settlement conference, and trial preparation — see our Ontario Small Claims Filing Guide.

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