Debt collection in Ontario
Debt collection in Ontario is two separate problems and people usually only plan for the first. Getting judgment is the easy half. Collecting it is where the money is made or lost.
About this work
What does collection actually involve?
Two stages that are usually run by different people with different skills. First a claim is issued, defended or not, and judgment obtained. A large proportion of debt claims are never defended at all and end in default judgment, which is fast and cheap.
Then enforcement begins, and this is where the work is. The tools are a writ of seizure and sale filed in the land registry office, which attaches to real property the debtor owns in that jurisdiction. A garnishment served on an employer or a bank. An examination in aid of execution, which compels the debtor to attend and answer questions under oath about their income, assets and debts.
The examination is the most underused of those. It produces the information the other tools need, and a debtor who fails to attend can be brought before the court to explain why.
None of this is fast against somebody determined to avoid it. What it is, is cumulative: a writ sits on title and is paid when a property is sold or refinanced, sometimes years later. A judgment does not expire the way people assume, and patience is a real enforcement strategy.
Before you sue
Three questions, and the third decides whether to start
A judgment is a piece of paper until it is enforced. Working out whether it can be enforced before spending anything on obtaining it is the whole discipline of this area.
Is the claim still in time?
Two years from discovery under section 4 of the Limitations Act, 2002, with a presumption that discovery happened on the day of the act or omission. On a debt that was demanded, promised, part paid and demanded again, when the clock started is frequently the argument.
Which court, and what does losing cost?
Up to $50,000 it is Small Claims Court, where costs other than disbursements are capped at 15 per cent of the amount claimed. Above that it is the Superior Court, where costs follow the event with no percentage cap.
Can the debtor actually pay?
Assets, employment, and whether they are still in the province. This is the question that should be answered first and is usually answered last, and it is the reason well founded claims are sometimes not worth issuing.
And is there security you have forgotten about?
A personal guarantee, a registered security interest, a lien, or a deposit held. Enforcing against security is a different and usually faster exercise than enforcing a judgment, and it is worth establishing before anything is filed.
The route
How does the process run?
5 stages, each with its own clock
The enforcement limits below are set by Ontario statute and the provision is named beside each one. Court filing and enforcement fees are set by regulation and change, so they are not printed here.
Two years to sue
Limitations Act, 2002 s. 4, 5(2)The basic limitation period bars a proceeding after the second anniversary of the day the claim was discovered, and a person is presumed to have discovered it on the day the act or omission took place unless the contrary is proved.
Up to fifty thousand, it is Small Claims
CJA s. 23(1), 23(1.1)The Small Claims Court has jurisdiction over claims for the payment of money up to $50,000 exclusive of interest and costs, and since 2023 a claim within that jurisdiction cannot be started in the Superior Court except with leave.
Only twenty per cent of wages can be garnished
Wages Act s. 7(2)Eighty per cent of a person's wages are exempt from seizure or garnishment. That is the default, and it is the figure most collection plans are built on.
Half, where the debt is support
s. 7(3)Fifty per cent of wages are exempt in the enforcement of an order for support or maintenance enforceable in Ontario, so support creditors reach considerably further than ordinary ones.
And a judge can move the exemption either way
s. 7(4), (5)On a creditor's motion a judge may decrease the exemption, having regard to the nature of the debt, the debtor's financial circumstances and any other relevant matter. On the debtor's motion a judge may increase it on the same kind of assessment.
Before the meeting
What to bring to the first meeting
6 things to bring
Bring what you have and say what is missing. A meeting with the papers in front of it settles in one sitting what two telephone calls will not.
- ✓The contract, invoices and statements, in date order
- ✓The correspondence, including anything the debtor said about paying
- ✓The date payment fell due, and the date it was last demanded
- ✓Any part payment, and when it was made
- ✓The debtor's full legal name, and whether it is a person or a company
- ✓Anything you know about their assets, employment or other creditors
Our approach
A clear path forward
The same four steps on every matter, whether it is a refusal at the Federal Court or a ticket at the Provincial Offences court.
Book a consultationUnderstand
We take the full history and read the documents before offering an opinion. Most bad advice comes from acting on half the facts.
Assess
You get a candid read on strength, timeline and cost, including when the honest answer is that you do not need to hire anyone.
Act
We prepare the application, the defence or the appeal properly the first time, because fixing a weak record later is harder and dearer.
Report
You hear from us at each stage, and you hear what a wait actually means rather than a date chosen to sound better.
Reported decisions
What has this work produced?
7 allowed of 22 reported since 2023
Public judgments of the Federal Court with Kapil Rathod as counsel of record, each checkable by citation on the court's own site. The rest were dismissed and are listed with these ones.
Super visa, parents and grandparents
Sharifi v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 99Docket IMM-23381-24
Application allowedWork permit, Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Sing v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 105Docket IMM-18690-24
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
Rehman v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 805Docket IMM-20802-24
Application allowedPermanent residence, Express Entry
Goel v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2025 FC 275Docket IMM-1797-24
Application allowedWork permit, job offer
Sharma v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1928Docket IMM-6445-23
Application allowedStudy permit
Tandel v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1487Docket IMM-3700-23
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
Gill v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1453Docket IMM-10337-23
Application allowed
Where to go next
Debt collection in Ontario is decided at the enforcement end rather than the judgment end.
Twenty per cent of wages is the default reach, fifty for support, and a judge can move either figure. The question worth answering first is whether the debtor can pay at all.
Common questions
What do people ask about debt collection?
8 answered here
Written to be read once and acted on rather than to be rung about. Each answer is complete where the law allows a complete answer.
How much can you actually take from wages?
Twenty per cent, on the ordinary rule, because section 7(2) of the Wages Act exempts eighty per cent of a person's wages from seizure or garnishment. On a modest income that is a small monthly figure and a long recovery.
Support and maintenance orders are treated differently. Section 7(3) exempts only fifty per cent, so a support creditor reaches two and a half times as far as an ordinary judgment creditor into the same pay cheque.
The part most collection advice omits is that these figures are not fixed. Section 7(4) lets a judge decrease the exemption on the creditor's motion, having regard to the nature of the debt owed, the debtor's financial circumstances and anything else the judge considers relevant. Section 7(5) lets a judge increase it on the debtor's motion on the same footing.
So a creditor facing a debtor with a high income and a debt that arose from something the court will take a dim view of has an argument for reaching further than twenty per cent, and a debtor genuinely unable to live on eighty has an argument for keeping more. Both are motions rather than entitlements.
When is a debt claim not worth bringing?
When the defendant cannot pay, which is the answer far more often than clients expect. A judgment against a company with no assets, or an individual who has left the province, can cost more to obtain and enforce than it will ever produce.
When the amount is small relative to the cost of proving it. Under about ten thousand dollars the arithmetic gets difficult unless the documents are clean and the claim is likely to go undefended, though the Small Claims costs cap of 15 per cent does keep the downside contained.
When the commercial relationship is worth more than the amount in issue. A supplier suing a customer who buys every year is frequently better served by a payment arrangement than by a judgment, and the useful advice there is about how to settle rather than how to sue.
And when there is a real dispute about the goods or services rather than about payment. A defended claim with a counterclaim about quality is a different piece of litigation from a collection matter, and pricing it as the latter is how costs run away.
What should a business do before it gets to this?
Get the terms in writing, and make them terms that help at the enforcement stage rather than only at the sale. Interest on overdue accounts has to be stated to be charged. A personal guarantee from a director changes an unsecured claim against a company into a claim against a person with a house.
Register security where the transaction supports it. A registered interest in equipment or inventory puts a creditor ahead of the queue rather than in it, and the difference on an insolvency is total.
Keep the paper trail contemporaneous. Signed delivery notes, acknowledged invoices, and the email in which the customer says the account will be paid next month are what make a claim undefendable, and the last of those also restarts a limitation period in the right circumstances.
And act early. The two year limitation runs, debtors dissipate assets, and the correspondence that would have settled the matter for eighty cents on the dollar in month three is worth much less in year two.
How long do I have to sue on an unpaid debt?
Two years from the day the claim was discovered, under section 4 of the Limitations Act, 2002, with a presumption under section 5(2) that discovery happened on the day of the act or omission. On an account that was demanded, part paid and demanded again, when the clock started is often the real argument.
How much of someone's wages can I garnish?
Twenty per cent, because section 7(2) of the Wages Act exempts eighty per cent from seizure or garnishment. For a support or maintenance order the exemption drops to fifty per cent under section 7(3), so support creditors reach considerably further.
Can the twenty per cent be increased?
Yes, on a motion. Section 7(4) allows a judge to decrease the exemption on the creditor's motion having regard to the nature of the debt, the debtor's circumstances and any other relevant matter, and section 7(5) allows a judge to increase it on the debtor's motion. The figures are defaults rather than ceilings.
Which court do I use?
Up to $50,000 exclusive of interest and costs, the Small Claims Court, where costs other than disbursements are capped at 15 per cent of the amount claimed. Since 2023 a claim within that jurisdiction cannot be commenced in the Superior Court except with leave.
What if the debtor has no money?
Then the judgment may be worth little, and that is worth knowing before you spend. A writ filed against land sits there and is paid on a sale or refinancing, sometimes years later, so patience has value. But a claim against a company with no assets is frequently not worth issuing at all.
Speak to someone this week
Bring the invoices, the correspondence and what you know about the debtor's assets. Debt collection in Ontario starts with whether a judgment could be enforced.