Collecting a Judgment

Once you have obtained a judgment, there are several ways to recoup the debt if the debtor does not pay voluntarily.

Gathering Information

To gather information, you can conduct an examination of the debtor to ask questions about the debtor’s assets and finances. For a judgment obtained from the Civil branch of the Superior Corut of Justice, Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure specify the topics a debtor can ask a creditor about:

(a)  the reason for nonpayment or nonperformance of the order;

(b)  the debtor’s income and property;

(c)  the debts owed to and by the debtor;

(d) the disposal the debtor has made of any property either before or after the making of the order;

(e) the debtor’s present, past and future means to satisfy the order;

(f)  whether the debtor intends to obey the order or has any reason for not doing so; and

(g) any other matter pertinent to the enforcement of the order.

To conduct an examination in aid of execution, you must serve a notice of examination on the creditor or its representative in the case of a corporation.

In Small Claims Court, you must file and serve a Notice of Examination and Affidavit for Enforcement Request. The court then schedules a hearing date for the examination. Individual debtors are required to fill out a Financial Information Form and serve it before the hearing.

You can also conduct personal property registry and land titles searches to determine whether the debtor has assets in Ontario.

Garnishment

You can attempt to collect the money owed to you by garnishing the debtor’s bank account or garnishing money owed to the debtor by an employee or other third party. To do so, you must file the forms applicable in either the Civil division or Small Claims Court of the Superior Court of Justice. There are limits on how much money can be taken from a debtor’s wages or jointly held bank accounts.

If garnishing a bank account, the bank must be served at the branch where the debtor banks.  If it is a joint account, you can only garnish 50% of the funds in the joint account. Some funds cannot be garnished, such as employment insurance or social assistance money.

If garnishing the debtor’s wages, the employer can only garnish 20% for commercial debts.

For more information, see the Garnishment page of this website.

Seizure and Sale of Assets

If the debtor has assets in Ontario, you can obtain a writ of seizure and sale and file it with the sheriff in the applicable region. A key benefit of filing the writ of seizure and sale (or writ of seizure and sale of land in Small Claims Court) with the sheriff is that it will encumber any land that the debtor owns or acquires in that region. It was also ensure that you share in the proceeds of funds garnished on behalf of other judgment creditors.

You can then direct the sheriff to seize and sell the debtor’s personal property or land, although the sheriff cannot sell the property until the required notice is provided to the debtor and the sale is properly advertised.

For individual debtors, there are exemptions to the types of personal property that can be seized and sold. For example, furniture, appliances, tools used to earn income, and motor vehicles below certain values are exempt.

Garnishment notices and writs of seizure are valid for six years but can be renewed before they expire.