8.4 Costs, Contempt & Monetary Jurisdiction

The New Monetary Jurisdiction (Critical Current Fact)

Effective October 1, 2025, the monetary jurisdiction of the Ontario Small Claims Court increased from $35,000 to $50,000, and the minimum amount required to bring a right of appeal increased from $3,500 to $5,000 (O. Reg. 42/25, amending O. Reg. 626/00 under the Courts of Justice Act; confirmed on ontario.ca, 'Small claims court: suing someone,' updated October 1, 2025). This is the largest jurisdictional expansion in the court's history and the first increase since 2020, when the limit moved from $25,000 to $35,000.

A claim above $50,000 exceeds the Small Claims Court's jurisdiction and generally belongs in the Superior Court of Justice, unless the plaintiff is willing to waive the amount over $50,000, in which case the claim may still proceed in Small Claims Court for the reduced amount. A deputy judge's presiding authority is capped at the same $50,000 figure.

The Appeal Threshold

Under s.31 of the Courts of Justice Act and O. Reg. 626/00, a party has a right of appeal to the Divisional Court from a final order of the Small Claims Court only where the order is for payment of money exceeding $5,000 (excluding costs) or recovery of personal property valued at more than $5,000. An appeal must be started within 30 days of the order and is limited to correcting a legal error or a clear, significant factual error; it is not a retrial. A judgment at or below $5,000 generally cannot be appealed as of right, which places real weight on getting trial and settlement-conference strategy right the first time on smaller claims.

Exam tip: Watch for questions testing whether you know both numbers changed together, on the same date, under the same regulation: $50,000 for jurisdiction, $5,000 for appeals. Older study materials, and even some third-party legal sites, may still cite the pre-October-2025 figures of $35,000 and $3,500.

Costs (Rule 19)

Costs in Small Claims Court are modest by design, reflecting the court's summary, self-represented-friendly character.

Section 29 of the Courts of Justice Act imposes the overarching cap: an award of costs, other than disbursements, cannot exceed 15% of the amount claimed or the value of the property sought, unless the court finds it necessary in the interests of justice to penalize a party, or a party's representative, for unreasonable behaviour in the proceeding.

Offers to Settle Sharpen the Stakes

An Offer to Settle (Form 14A) can be made at any time and accepted (Form 14B) or withdrawn (Form 14C) in writing. Under Rule 14.07, if an offer is served at least seven days before trial and not accepted, and the result at trial is as favourable or more favourable to the offering party than the offer, cost consequences follow. Reforms in O. Reg. 3/25 (effective June 2025) tripled, from $500 to $1,500, the inconvenience-and-expense compensation available to a self-represented litigant in this specific offer-to-settle scenario — a sharper incentive than the general $500 cap under Rule 19.05 to accept a reasonable offer rather than force a trial.

Contempt (Rule 20.11)

Contempt procedure arises almost exclusively in post-judgment enforcement, after a creditor has obtained judgment and is trying to collect. If a debtor, or another person served with a Notice of Examination, attends the examination but refuses to answer questions or produce documents, the court may order that person to attend a contempt hearing. If the person fails to attend the examination at all, the court may instead order attendance at a contempt hearing before a judge of the Superior Court of Justice.

Consequences of a Contempt Finding

At a contempt hearing arising from a refusal to answer or produce records, the court can find the person in contempt if they fail to show cause why they should not be. At a hearing arising from a failure to attend the examination altogether, the Superior Court judge must be satisfied the failure to attend was wilful. Once contempt is found, the court may order the person to:

• Attend an examination under Rule 20.10;
• Be jailed for a period not exceeding 40 days;
• Attend an additional contempt hearing; or
• Comply with any other order the judge considers necessary or just.

A warrant of committal issued on a jail order remains in force for 12 months and may be renewed by the court on the creditor's motion. A person subject to an order made under this rule may bring a motion to set aside the contempt order before the hearing date. This entire enforcement chain, examination, contempt hearing, and committal, exists because a Small Claims Court judgment is only as valuable as the paralegal's ability to actually collect on it, and the Rules give creditors real teeth against a debtor who stonewalls the collection process.