Get your partner's Reply

Respondent flowchart

Your partner has 10 days to reply to anything in your Form 10: Answer that is a new issue or claim by filling out Form 10A: Reply.

For example, if you said that your partner has a drug problem, and they didn’t say anything about this in their Form 8: Application, they can file a Reply that addresses that issue. The Reply should not contain any new issues.

You don’t get a chance to respond to your partner’s reply.

Your partner doesn’t have to fill out Form 10A: Reply. If they don’t, it means they don’t agree with what you’ve said in your Answer.

Your partner can serve you by regular service or special service. Serve your documents below explains how they do this.

See Count time below to understand how to calculate days or time correctly. This is important because court staff may not accept your partner’s documents if they haven’t followed the rules.

Count time

Rule 3: Time tells you how to count time or days.

You must follow court rules that say the day by which you have to:

serve your partner, or other people or agencies, with your documents
file your documents with the court
confirm your court dates

When you serve your documents, counting starts on the day after the “effective” service day. The effective service day depends on how you served the documents. If you served them:

in person - service is effective the same day
by mail - service is effective 5 days after the documents are mailed
by same day courier - service is effective the day after the courier picks it up
by next day courier - service is effective two days after the courier picks it up
by fax - service is effective the day it's faxed as long as it's faxed before 4 p.m. on a day when the court is open
at your partner’s home with anyone who seems to be an adult and then mailed to that address - service is effective 5 days after the documents are mailed

For example, suppose you have 7 days to serve your documents. If you serve them personally on Monday, the first day you count is Tuesday and the 7th day is the following Monday.

If the last day is a holiday, the time period ends on the next day that is not a holiday.

But if you have less than 7 days to serve or file your documents or to confirm your court date, then Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays when court offices are closed are not counted.

Counting time or days is important because court staff won’t accept your documents if you haven't followed the rules.

Serve your documents

Rule 6: Service of documents tells you how to serve your partner and any other people or agencies you have to serve.

Documents can be served in 2 ways – by special service or by regular service. The Family Law Rules tell you which way you have to serve your documents at each step in the court process.

You can usually serve your partner yourself, or get a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server to do it for you.

Special service

To serve your documents by special service means you, a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server must do one of the following:

give a copy to your partner directly
leave a copy with your partner’s lawyer
mail a copy to your partner, but your partner must send back a special form to confirm they received the document
leave a copy in an envelope addressed to your partner at your partner’s home with any adult living with your partner, and then mail a copy of the documents to that address within one day

Special service is usually used for documents that start the case or documents that could lead to the person being served going to jail.

Regular Service

To serve your documents by regular service means you, a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server, must do one of the following:

mail a copy to your partner or their lawyer
courier a copy to your partner or their lawyer
fax a copy to your partner or their lawyer
serve a copy by special service

The following documents can only be served by special service:

an Application
a motion to change
a summons to witness
a notice of contempt motion
a notice of motion or notice of default hearing where the person to be served faces a possibility of jail

6B: Affidavit of Service

After your documents are served, you, or whoever served the documents, must fill out Form 6B: Affidavit of Service. This can be done at the court counter, with the help of the court clerk.

Form 6B asks for:

the name of the person who served the documents
the name of the person or agency that was served
when the documents were served (day, month, and year)
where the documents were served (the complete address)
what documents were served (Application, Answer, Reply, notice of motion)
how the documents were served (in person, at place of residence, by regular mail, courier, or fax)

You must swear or affirm that the information in your form is true before you sign it. You do this in front of a notary public or commissioner for taking affidavits. This person also signs and dates the form.

You can be charged with committing a crime if you don't tell the truth.

You can find a commissioner at any family court and they will sign your form for free. You can also find them at certain ServiceOntario centres. Other people can also do this, for example, a lawyer, notary public, judge, or paralegal. But they may charge you a fee.

Form 6B proves that your partner got a copy of your documents and knows that they have to respond to them.

More information on serving documents can be found in the Ministry of Attorney General’s A Guide to Family Procedures, Part 6: Serving Documents.

Safety issues

If you fear for your safety or the safety of any friend or family member when serving documents, you can ask the court staff to arrange for your documents to be served.

Next step:

Go to your Mandatory Information Program

Previous step:

File your documents in court

July 2018