Law firms and lawyers with existing fax filing accounts or law firms and lawyers wishing to open a fax filing account are now permitted to file documents in their local judicial centre. This will help limit the number of people coming into courthouses throughout the province and allow lawyers to better manage remote working arrangements.
Current fax filing agreements will remain in effect but will be interpreted to allow for use of this e-mail filing procedure.
E-mail addresses for each judicial centre are listed here. Lawyers are asked to still include the current fax filing request page with the documents that are being sent. A copy of the fax filing request page can be located here.
According to the court’s latest directive to the profession, all documents that are currently being fax filed can be filed via e-mail utilizing your current fax filing account. E-mail filing of criminal documents will now be allowed. Any criminal document where the court does not require an original may be filed via e-mail. The court asks that lawyers provide an e-mail address for return of their documents.
When sending your e-mail, the court asks you please ensure you are sending your document to the appropriate court location. Ensure the subject of each e-mail conforms with the following naming convention: AREA OF COURT (IN CAPS) – File Number (if known) - Type of Document. Example: CIVIL FILING – 2001-123456 – Statement of Defence.
Possible areas of court are:
- Civil filing
- Criminal filing
- Surrogate filing
- Bankruptcy filing
- Divorce filing
- Adoption filing
- Family filing
- Accounting filing
- Exhibit filing
Your document will be electronically stamped with the date it is received, though processing times may vary depending on volume. If your document is received after 4 p.m., it will be stamped for the following business day.
Regular filing fees will apply. The fee for fax or e-mail filings in respect of the $1 per page requirement between March 24 and May 1, and will be capped at $20. Please note this capping of fees applies only to the per page charge of fax or e-mail filing and does not apply to regular filing fees such as statements of claim and statements of defence.
As in the normal course, you will be charged normal fax filing fees for documents that are rejected, with a $20 cap on the per page requirement from March 24 to May 1.