Separating in Toronto: which family court handles your case?

It depends on what you are asking the court to decide. A divorce or a claim to divide property must go to the Superior Court of Justice, which hears Toronto family cases at 361 University Avenue. If you only need orders about parenting or support, you can also start in the Ontario Court of Justice, at 47 Sheppard Avenue East or 311 Jarvis Street, depending on your provincial electoral district.

Picking the right court and the right building at the start saves weeks. This guide sets out the split, the addresses, and the rule that decides where a family case may begin. If you are still deciding whether to end the marriage, our page on divorce in Toronto covers the wider picture.

How do you work out your court, step by step?

1. List what you are asking for. A divorce, property division or a claim about the matrimonial home points to the Superior Court; parenting and support alone can go to either court.
2. Check where the case may start. Usually where a party lives, or where the child habitually lives if parenting is in issue (Family Law Rules, r. 5(1)).
3. If it is the Superior Court, the Toronto family office is at 361 University Avenue; see what to expect at 361 University Avenue.
4. If it is the Ontario Court of Justice, find your provincial electoral district and match it to 47 Sheppard or 311 Jarvis, using the table below.
5. Check for an earlier case. A case started before September 1, 2024, and later motions to change in it, stay at 47 Sheppard.
6. In an emergency, such as an immediate danger that a child will be removed from Ontario, start wherever you are and let the case be transferred afterwards (r. 5(2)).

Families with ties to Iran often have both a divorce and a mahr or property claim, which puts the whole case in the Superior Court. Our page on what a Persian-speaking family lawyer in Toronto can do collects those questions in one place.

Why does Toronto have more than one family court?

Ontario has three courts that deal with family law: the Family Court Branch of the Superior Court of Justice, the Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Justice. According to the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Family Court Branch is the only court in Ontario that can hear every type of family case, and it sits in 25 places. Toronto is not on that list. Newmarket is, which is why a family in Richmond Hill or Thornhill deals with one courthouse for everything, while a Toronto family may deal with two courts.

In Toronto, then, the work is divided. The Superior Court is the only court that can grant a divorce: the federal Divorce Act names the Superior Court of Justice as the divorce court for Ontario. Property division and claims about the matrimonial home are also Superior Court matters, because the Family Law Act says the Ontario Court of Justice is not a "court" for those parts of the Act. Parenting and support can be heard by either court.

Which court hears which claim in Toronto?

The Superior Court also hears trust and unjust enrichment claims and applications about family arbitrations. Ontario's guide lists the enforcement of support under an agreement or order, adoption and child protection among the Ontario Court of Justice's family work.

If both courts can hear your case, which one should you use?

If you want a divorce or a property order, all your claims can go into one Superior Court application, since a single application may contain more than one claim against the same person (Family Law Rules, rule 8). Parenting and support then travel with the divorce.

If you were never married, or you only need parenting or support orders for now, you can choose. Two differences come straight from the rules:

• Getting a first date. At the Ontario Court of Justice, the clerk gives you a first appearance date when you file. At the Superior Court in Toronto, no court date is set when the application is filed; the case comes before a judge when someone schedules a case conference or a motion (rule 41).
• Property between unmarried partners. Equalization under the Family Law Act is for spouses, which the Act defines as people who are married to each other. Unmarried partners with a property dispute bring a different kind of claim, such as a trust or unjust enrichment claim, and those belong in the Superior Court. Their support rights are covered in common-law spousal support.

For how a judge approaches the parenting issues themselves, see parenting time. For how the amount is worked out, see child support in Ontario.

47 Sheppard or 311 Jarvis: which Ontario Court of Justice location is yours?

Since September 1, 2024, every new Ontario Court of Justice family case in Toronto starts at one of two courthouses, based on the provincial electoral district (riding) set out in a practice direction of the court.

You can find your district by postal code on the Elections Ontario district search. For what happens inside each building, see our page on the North York family court at 47 Sheppard. The downtown courthouse is covered in what to expect at 311 Jarvis Street. Three points from the practice direction often surprise people:

• Cases started before September 1, 2024 can continue at 47 Sheppard.
• A motion to change, a status review application or a contempt motion that relates to an earlier case, started after that date, also continues at 47 Sheppard.
• Cases involving Native Child and Family Services or Jewish Child and Family Services are not covered by the direction.

Can your case be started in Toronto at all?

Rule 5 of the Family Law Rules decides the municipality. A case usually starts where a party lives. If it involves decision-making responsibility, parenting time or contact, it starts where the child habitually lives. The parties can agree on another place only with the court's permission, given in advance in that place. The clerk must refuse an application filed in the wrong municipality.

There is one emergency exception. If there is an immediate danger that a child may be removed from Ontario, or a danger to a child's or a party's health or safety, a case may start in any municipality so that an urgent motion can be heard there. It is then transferred to the proper place unless the court orders otherwise. If you and your children live in York Region, your family court is the Newmarket courthouse at 50 Eagle Street West, not Toronto; read what to expect at the Newmarket family court.

Where do you go, call or write?

All three list counter service from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. Do not go to 393 University Avenue for a family matter: that building is the Superior Court's civil courthouse.

What happens once the right court has your application?

The application is issued, served on the other side, and the other side has 30 days to answer (60 if served outside Canada or the United States). Most parties must also attend a Mandatory Information Program. We walk through each step in what happens after you start a family case in Toronto. If you have not filed anything yet, our first-week separation checklist lists the documents to gather first. Our guide for Toronto families gathers the local services at all three courthouses.

What changes the answer?

• Whether you are married. Divorce and equalization are only for married spouses, and both belong to the Superior Court (Divorce Act, s. 2; Family Law Act, ss. 1 and 17).
• What you claim now, and later. Adding a property claim later may mean a second court; one Superior Court application can hold every claim (r. 8).
• Your riding. It decides 47 Sheppard or 311 Jarvis for a new Ontario Court of Justice case.
• Where the children habitually live. A parenting case starts there, even if a parent has moved (r. 5(1)(b)).
• An earlier case. Older files and related motions continue at 47 Sheppard under the practice direction.
• Whether you live in York Region. Then the Newmarket Family Court hears everything; see how York Region family cases work.

A worked example

For example, imagine two families. The first, a married couple in Willowdale who married in Iran, wants a divorce and has a dispute over a mahr and an apartment. Because divorce and property are involved, their case goes to the Superior Court at 361 University Avenue, with parenting and support claims included in the same application. The second, an unmarried couple in Etobicoke Centre, needs only a parenting schedule and child support. They can use the Ontario Court of Justice, and their riding sends a new case to 311 Jarvis Street, where the clerk gives a first appearance date at filing. If the second couple later disagreed about property, that claim would be a trust or unjust enrichment claim in the Superior Court. These are hypothetical walk-throughs, not predictions for any family.

What mistakes do people make?

1. Going to 393 University Avenue, the civil courthouse, instead of 361.
2. Starting a parenting case in the Ontario Court of Justice and then needing a divorce or property order, which forces a second case.
3. Filing at the wrong Ontario Court of Justice location without checking the riding.
4. Assuming a York Region family files in Toronto because the lawyer or the other spouse is in Toronto.
5. Waiting for a court date at the Superior Court that will not be set until someone schedules a conference or a motion.
6. Missing an emergency route when a child may be taken out of Ontario; read what an Ontario court can order about travel.

What to do this week

1. Write down every order you want: divorce, property, support, parenting, the home.
2. Look up your riding with your postal code on the Elections Ontario search.
3. Find any earlier court file numbers for your family.
4. Note where the children have lived and since when.
5. Gather your marriage certificate and income documents for the application.

Frequently asked questions

Can I start at the Ontario Court of Justice and move to the Superior Court later?

A divorce or property claim cannot be heard at the Ontario Court of Justice, so it would need a Superior Court case. That is why people who expect to want a divorce often start there from the beginning.

Is there a filing fee?

Superior Court family filings carry court fees; Ontario's guide says there is no fee to file at the Ontario Court of Justice. Fee waivers are available for people who qualify.

Do both of us have to attend an information session?

In most parenting, property, support and restraining order cases, each party must attend a Mandatory Information Program, with some listed exceptions (Family Law Rules, r. 8.1). It applies in both courts.

What if my spouse lives in Iran?

You can still start in Toronto if the court can hear the case; for a divorce, one of you must have been habitually resident in Ontario for a year. See divorcing in Ontario after marrying in Iran.

Do the courts provide Persian interpreters?

In family cases, Ontario provides interpreters in languages other than French only with a fee waiver or a court order. Ask early.

Where do Brampton and Mississauga families go?

Peel families file at the Brampton courthouse. Peel is not a unified family court either, so the same division between the Superior Court and the Ontario Court of Justice applies; see what to expect at the Brampton courthouse.

Sarbazevatan Law helps families in Toronto, Thornhill and Richmond Hill work out where their case belongs and what to file. Consultations are available in English, Persian (Farsi) and French. Call +1 (416) 628-2041 or reach us through the contact page.