What changed
- From 1 October 2025 the Small Claims Court hears claims up to $50,000, raised from $35,000 by O. Reg. 42/25.
- The appeal threshold moved the same day, from $3,500 to $5,000. A final order has to exceed it before section 31 of the Courts of Justice Act gives an appeal to the Divisional Court.
- A judgment between those two figures was appealable before 1 October 2025 and is not after it. The regulation contains no transitional provision.
What moved on 1 October 2025
O. Reg. 42/25 amended O. Reg. 626/00 in two places. Section 1 struck out $35,000 wherever it appeared and substituted $50,000, which is both the ceiling on a claim in the Small Claims Court and the ceiling on what a deputy judge may preside over. Section 2 struck out $3,500 and substituted $5,000.
The regulation was made on 24 April 2025, filed on 1 May 2025 and published in the Ontario Gazette on 17 May 2025. It came into force on 1 October 2025, five months after filing.
Most of the coverage carried the first figure. The second moved on the same day and does the opposite kind of work.
Why does the appeal threshold matter?
Because it decides whether a judgment can be appealed at all. Section 31 of the Courts of Justice Act gives an appeal to the Divisional Court from a final order of the Small Claims Court in an action for the payment of money in excess of the prescribed amount, excluding costs, or for the recovery of possession of personal property exceeding the prescribed amount in value.
The prescribed amount is the figure in section 2 of the regulation. Until 30 September 2025 it was $3,500. From 1 October 2025 it is $5,000.
So a judgment of $4,000 sat above the old figure and sits below the new one. Costs are left out of that calculation, because section 31 excludes them.
Which claims belong in Small Claims Court now?
Claims for the payment of money, and claims for the return of personal property, where the amount or the value does not exceed $50,000. The figure is exclusive of interest and costs.
The same ceiling governs what a deputy judge may hear, under section 1(2), so the two moved together rather than separately.
The Small Claims Court page on this site carries the current procedure, the settlement conference step and what the costs rules allow.
What the regulation does not say
It contains no transitional provision. O. Reg. 42/25 runs to three sections: one changing the jurisdiction figure, one changing the appeal figure, and one setting commencement at the later of 1 October 2025 and the day of filing. Nothing in it addresses claims filed or orders made before that date.
Where a judgment falls between $3,500 and $5,000, the date on the order is the first thing to establish, and it is worth establishing while an appeal period is still running rather than afterwards.
The detail sits on Small Claims Court, which is kept current as the rules move.
