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Served with a claim? Waiting on a Defence? Thinking about an appeal? Calculate the key procedural deadlines in an Ontario Small Claims Court case from the dates in your file.
Estimated dates only — not legal advice. Court holidays and orders can change the operative deadline.In Ontario Small Claims Court, a defendant must file a Defence within 20 days of being served with the Plaintiff's Claim, a plaintiff must serve the claim within 6 months of it being issued, the settlement conference is fixed within 90 days after the first Defence is filed, and an appeal to the Divisional Court must be started within 30 days of a final order. If a deadline lands on a weekend or court holiday, it extends to the next day the court office is open.
A Defence is due 20 calendar days after service of the Plaintiff's Claim. After that, the defendant can be noted in default.
A Plaintiff's Claim must be served on each defendant within 6 months of being issued, unless the court extends the time.
The clerk fixes a mandatory settlement conference within 90 days after the first Defence is filed.
Appeals of final orders over $3,500 go to the Divisional Court and must generally be started within 30 days.
| Event | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Serve the Plaintiff's Claim | 6 months after the claim is issued | Rule 8.01 |
| File a Defence | 20 days after being served | Rule 9.01 |
| Noting in default possible | Any time after the defence deadline passes | Rule 11 |
| Settlement conference fixed | Within 90 days after the first Defence is filed | Rule 13 |
| Appeal to Divisional Court | 30 days after the final order (over $3,500) | Courts of Justice Act |
All of these are procedural deadlines — clocks that run once a case exists. They are separate from the basic two-year limitation period that governs how long you have to start the case in the first place, which you can check with our limitation period calculator.
The consequences scale with the deadline. Miss the 20-day defence window and the plaintiff can have you noted in default — and, for a claim in a fixed amount, obtain default judgment without you ever being heard. Setting aside a default requires a prompt motion with a good explanation and an arguable defence, which is far more expensive than filing on time. Our guide on defending a Small Claims Court claim walks through the response step by step, and if you also want to sue the plaintiff back, the counterclaim calculator shows the net position.
Miss the 6-month service deadline and your issued claim stalls — you will need a court order extending time. Miss the 30-day appeal window and the judgment generally becomes final. The pattern is the same everywhere in litigation: deadlines are cheap to meet and expensive to miss.
Suppose you are served with a Plaintiff's Claim on Friday, June 5. Twenty calendar days later is Thursday, June 25 — that is the last day to file your Defence. If the twentieth day had landed on a Saturday, the deadline would roll to the following Monday (court holidays extend deadlines the same way). From June 26 onward, the plaintiff can ask the clerk to note you in default. The safe practice is never to plan for the last day: file early, keep proof of filing, and treat the calculated date as the outer boundary, not the target.
A defendant has 20 calendar days from the day they are served with a Plaintiff's Claim to file a Defence (Form 9A) with the court, under Rule 9.01 of the Rules of the Small Claims Court. If the 20th day falls on a weekend or court holiday, the deadline extends to the next day the court office is open.
The plaintiff can ask the clerk to note you in default, and for a liquidated claim (a specific amount like an unpaid invoice) may obtain default judgment against you without a hearing. A defendant noted in default can bring a motion to set aside the default, but must move promptly and explain the delay — prevention is far cheaper than cure.
A Plaintiff's Claim must be served on each defendant within 6 months after it is issued, under Rule 8.01. The court can extend the time on motion, but an unserved claim does not advance your case — and serving late without an extension can create procedural problems.
Under Rule 13, the clerk fixes a settlement conference within 90 days after the first Defence is filed. It is a mandatory step in every defended Small Claims case — most files settle at or shortly after this stage, so preparation matters.
An appeal to the Divisional Court must generally be started within 30 days of the final order. Appeals are only available where the amount in dispute exceeds the appeal threshold ($3,500), and the grounds are narrow — an appeal is not a second trial.
Deadlines in the Rules are counted in calendar days — weekends and holidays in the middle of the period count. But if the last day of a period falls on a holiday (which includes weekends for court-office purposes), the deadline extends to the next day the court office is open.
Some can. Parties can consent in writing to extend certain timelines, and the court can extend or shorten most procedural deadlines on motion where it is appropriate. The basic two-year limitation period to start the claim is different — it generally cannot be extended by the court, only affected by the narrow mechanisms in the Limitations Act, 2002.
No. The limitation period — generally two years from discovering your claim — governs how long you have to start a case. The deadlines this calculator covers are procedural clocks that run after a case has started: defence, service, conference and appeal timing. You need to be on the right side of both.
The 20-day defence clock only starts running from proper, effective service. If you learned about a claim (or a default judgment) that was never validly served on you, that is a ground to set aside the default — but act immediately, because delay after learning of it undermines the motion.
Yes, practically. A Defendant's Claim (counterclaim) is normally filed within 20 days after the Defence is filed, and most defendants file both together. Missing the defence deadline risks default judgment, which forfeits far more than the counterclaim's timing.
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