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Prepare for your settlement conference

Respondent flowchart

If you and your partner haven’t sorted out the issues after one or more case conferences, the judge may schedule a settlement conference.

The goal of a settlement conference is to help you and your partner settle the issues you still don’t agree on. Every conference is a chance for you to come closer to agreeing on your issues with your partner.

Alternative dispute resolution

Starting March 2021, you and your partner must consider using an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or family dispute resolution process to resolve your issues out of court if it’s suitable. It might not be an option in situations where:

  • a person is afraid of their partner because there’s a history of family violence
  • there are serious mental health or drug abuse issues

ADR is voluntary. So, even though you must think about trying it, you can’t be forced to use it.

ADR can be tried before going to court or any time after a court case is started. Every family court in Ontario offers subsidized mediation services.

Combined conferences

From August 1, 2021, if you and your partner have tried family mediation, a judge can sometimes allow you to move directly to a combined case conference and settlement conference. Mediation can be tried before going to court or any time after a court case is started. Every family court in Ontario offers subsidized mediation services.

To prepare for a combined conference, fill out the forms required for a settlement conference. If the judge hasn’t already combined the conferences, you or your partner can ask for this by bringing a Form 14B: Motion.

Prepare for your conference

Rule 17: Conferences tells you what you need to do to prepare for your settlement conference and what happens at one.

Your partner has to serve you with the following documents at least 6 days before your settlement conference:

If your partner’s financial statement is more than 30 days old at the time of your conference, you will also be served with one of the following documents:


Fill out your forms

You also have to fill out your own Form 17C: Settlement Conference Brief. This form is very similar to a case conference brief, except you also include:

  • An Offer to Settle that says how you would like to settle some or all of the issues.
  • Form 13B: Net Family Property Statement, if there are property issues. In it, you calculate your assets and debts on the date you married and on the date you separated.
  • A joint Form 13C: Comparative Net Family Property Statement, or your own Form 13C, if there are property issues. This form compares the value of your and your partner’s assets and debts on the date you married and the date you separated.

You have to give the court updated financial statements. See Update your financial statements below to find out what you have to do.

Make copies of your completed documents for you and your partner.


Serve and file your forms

You must serve your partner with a copy of your documents at least 4 days before the date of your settlement conference. You serve them by regular service or special service. Serve your documents below explains how to 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 documents if you haven’t followed the rules.

After you serve your partner, you must file your documents and Form 6B: Affidavit of Service with the court. This means they’re added to your court file. You must do this 4 days before the conference date.

You can file your forms and documents with the court online or in person. File your court forms and documents below explains how to do this.

Your settlement conference brief is added to your court file and not to the continuing record. It goes in your court file so the judge can read it before your conference. It is given back to you after your settlement conference is over. This is because discussions at a settlement conference are private and can’t be shared with another judge.

Reach out to your partner

Starting May 1, 2022, you must try to reach out to your partner before your settlement conference, if you can, about things like:

  • sharing financial information
  • procedural matters, such as timelines
  • resolving your issues

You can do this in person, in writing, or with the help of a lawyer.

If you don't do this, your settlement conference may be postponed or you may have to pay your partner's legal costs.

But you might not have to do this in some situations. For example, if there is a no-contact order or there are concerns about family violence by one partner who doesn't have a lawyer.

Confirm your court date

You have to tell the court that you will be at your settlement conference. Confirm your court date below explains how to do this.

If you need an interpreter or any special arrangement because of a disability, see Ask for a special arrangements below.

Ask for a special arrangement

If you or any of your witnesses need an interpreter or any special arrangement because of a disability, you can ask for this at any stage in the court process.

You can speak with any staff member at court about what you need or you can contact the Accessibility Coordinator at the court where your case, motion, or trial is being held. More information on accessibility at Ontario’s courts is available on the Ministry of the Attorney General’s website.

Confirm your court date

You must confirm your court date by 2 p.m., at least 2 days before your scheduled hearing. To do this, you must fill out and file Form 14C: Confirmation. This form tells the court that you’ll be at your hearing, what specific issues will be discussed at it, and what documents the judge should read. You can file the form in person at the courthouse or by email through the Justice Services Online website. It can no longer be filed by fax.

Your partner also has to fill and file this form to confirm they will be at the hearing.

If you do not file your confirmation form in time, the hearing will not be held and you will have to get a new date.

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:

  • personally - service is effective the same day
  • by mail - service is effective 5 days after the documents are mailed
  • by courier - service is effective the day after the courier picks it up
  • by fax or email - service is effective the day it’s faxed or emailed as long as it’s sent 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 your partner has to get your documents at least 7 days before the date of your motion. 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 have not followed the rules.

File your court forms and documents

Rule 1.1 tells you how to file and issue your family law court forms and documents online. You can file your documents online or in person at the court. Depending on your family law issue and the court, you might also be able to file by email. Check the Family Law Rules and the court's orders, Notices and Practice Directions. Or call the court for more information.

Rule 1.2 says before you file your documents, you must remove or black out all financial account numbers and certain personal information, such as:

  • social insurance numbers
  • bank account numbers
  • credit card numbers
  • account numbers for mortgages, lines of credit, and other loans

You must keep the original documents that show this information.

A judge might ask to see it.

File online

You can now file most family law forms and supporting documents online for a family court case in the Ontario Court of Justice or the Superior Court of Justice. But you cannot file forms and documents online:

  • to request an urgent hearing
  • for a court date that's 5 business days or less away
  • to meet a filing deadline that's 5 business days or less away

To file online, your court forms and supporting documents must be filled out, signed, and dated. Some forms and documents may need to be sworn or affirmed. If they do, it means 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.

Your forms and documents must then be scanned and saved as PDF documents.

If your documents are not in English or French, you need a certified translation. This must also be scanned and saved as a PDF. You can find a translator through the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario.

To file your court forms and supporting documents online, go to ontario.ca/familyclaims. You will need a ONe-key ID. To create this key you need an email address and have to set up a username and password.

Make sure you have everything ready before you start filing online. Once you've started, your session ends if you're inactive for 15 minutes. Your information won't be saved. You will need to start over again.

After you submit your court forms and documents online, you cannot view them online later. So it's important to keep a copy of everything for your records.

You must also pay your court fees online. If you can't afford to pay the court fees, you can ask for a fee waiver certificate online so that you don't have to pay most court fees.

See the question ‘How do I file court forms for my family law case online’ on Steps to Justice for more information.

Court response

After you file your forms and documents online, you get an email to confirm that your documents have been submitted, but not yet filed with the court. Don't delete the email. You should also print a copy or take a screenshot for your records.

Within 5 business days you find out if your documents have been accepted or rejected. If your documents are:

  • accepted, you get an email confirming your documents have been filed
  • rejected, you get an email saying your documents haven't been filed, the reasons why they were rejected, and that any fees you paid will be refunded

If your documents are rejected, you can either:

  • correct or fix all the things that led to your documents being rejected and then refile online if the deadline to submit them is more than 5 business days away, or
  • file your documents in-person or, if allowed by the court, by email

If you don't hear from the court within 5 days, check with them to make sure your documents were submitted successfully.

If you have any questions about your specific case, call the family court in your municipality.

File in person

If you're not allowed to, or don't want to file your documents online, you can file them in person at the courthouse. To submit in person, take 3 copies of your court forms and documents to court.

If you're not which court to go to, you can call the family court in your municipality to ask.

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, but you can't be the one to do this
  • 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
  • email 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 (house number, apartment number, street name, city, and province)
  • 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, fax, or email)

This form must be sworn or affirmed. This means the person signing it is promising that the information in it is true. It is against the law to not tell the truth when swearing or affirming an affidavit.

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.

Update your continuing record

Rule 9: Continuing Record tells you what a continuing record is and what documents you put into it

The continuing record has every document you and your partner want the court to look at. It is kept in the court file at the courthouse.

The continuing record has 2 parts:

1. The endorsement volume has all the endorsements and court orders a judge makes in your case.

2. The documents volume has all the documents filed in your case by you and your partner. This includes Applications, Answers, Replies, affidavits of service, financial statements, motions, affidavits, and trial management conference briefs. It does not include the case conference brief or the settlement conference brief.

If you are the applicant, you start the continuing record and keep adding your documents to it. If you don’t have a lawyer, court staff can help you start it and help you add your documents to it

If you are the respondent you add your documents to the continuing record your partner started. If you don’t have a lawyer, court staff can help you add your documents to it.

When you add a document to the continuing record, you also have to update the table of contents by listing each document you’re filing.

Make sure you keep a copy of every document you and your partner fill out. This allows you to keep track of your case yourself. You won’t have to go to the court to ask the court clerk to get your court file if you need to check something.

More information on the continuing record can be found in the Ministry of Attorney General’s A Guide to Family Procedures, Part 5: Filing Documents.

Update your financial statements

Rule 13: Financial disclosure tells you what a financial statement is, when you need one, and how to fill it out.

Financial statements must be updated:

  • when there is a significant change to one of the partner's income, for example, if they get a new job and their income changes a lot
  • after a certain number of days

Before September 1, 2021, financial statements had to be updated if they were more than 30 days old. After September 1, financial statements have to be updated less often as follows:

  • case or settlement conference: 60 days old
  • motion: 30 days old
  • trial: 40 days old

To update your financial statement, you have to file or serve it at any stage in the court process, you have to fill out, serve, and file one of the following:

You also have to fill out Form 13A: Certificate of Financial Disclosure. In it you list all the documents that prove why you’re asking for child support, spousal support, or to divide property. You must attach copies of all these documents.

For example, you can include copies of your pay stubs, recent tax returns, and notices of assessment. If you don’t have a copy of your notices of assessment, you can get a copy of your income and deductions statement from Canada Revenue Agency by calling 1-800-959-8281.

Next steps:

Go to your settlement conference

Previous step:

Go to your case conference

March 1 2021

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