Ontario’s Attorney General, Doug Downey, has just announced a major expansion of the online filing system for civil litigation.

This is an expansion in accordance with Ontario’s previous plans to do the same.

As indicated in a letter dated July 28, 2020 and sent to the Ontario Bar:

On August 5, 2020, the Justice Services Online platform (ontario.ca/familyclaims and ontario.ca/page/file-civil-claim-online) will expand to enable the online submission of close to 400 more types of civil and family court documents.

The new services, “Civil Submissions Online” and “Family Submissions Online,” will provide simple and quick ways to electronically submit court documents, at every step in a case, in any new or existing:

• civil action or application in the Superior Court of Justice (SCJ); and
• family proceeding in the SCJ or Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ).

Users can pay court filing fees online securely by debit or credit card.

This is a major step to helping lawyers conduct their litigation in Ontario, at a lower cost to clients.