Guides · reviewed 2026-09-04

Frequent claimant or infrequent claimant: the 10-claim fee rule

Legal information, not legal advice. Results depend on the facts of your case.

Legal information, not legal advice. This guide and our free tools give legal information. They do not give advice about your case. A licensed lawyer can give legal advice.

The answer

Small Claims Court has 2 fee levels. A frequent claimant pays $228 to file a claim; an infrequent claimant pays $108. You reach the frequent level with your 11th claim in the same court office in one calendar year.

The definition

You are a frequent claimant for a claim if you have already filed 10 or more claims in the same office in that calendar year. The count is per office and per calendar year. It resets on January 1. A Defendant's Claim does not count toward the 10. The definition covers a person, a sole proprietorship, a partnership, an unincorporated organization, and a corporation.

The fee differences

Step Infrequent Frequent
File a claim $108 $228
Fix a trial or assessment date $308 $403
Request a default judgment $94 $128

Other fees are the same at both levels: Defence $77, motion $127, garnishment $144. Fees change on January 1, 2027, with inflation.

What this means

  • A business with many collection claims pays $120 more per claim after the 10th in one office.
  • The 2 fee levels do not change your rights in the case.
  • Venue rules still control where you can file. Do not pick an office only for the lower fee.
  • If you pay a fee on electronic filing, you do not pay it again for a paper copy.

What to do

  1. Count your claims in each office for this calendar year.
  2. Budget $228 for each claim from the 11th on, plus $403 and $128 at the later steps.
  3. If you win, you can ask the court to order the defendant to repay your fees.
  4. If you run many claims, read: Small Claims Court for your small business.

Common mistakes

  • Do not budget only the higher fee to file. The trial-date and default fees rise too.
  • Do not spread claims across offices against the venue rule.
  • Do not forget the reset: the count starts fresh each calendar year.

When to get a lawyer

Get legal advice on a collection process that files many claims each year. Legal services provided by Mithril Law — Jonathan Kleiman, licensed Ontario lawyer.

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