When must I deliver an Ontario Superior Court statement of defence?

Deliver Form 18A within 20 days after statement-of-claim service in Ontario, 40 days elsewhere in Canada or the United States, or 60 days elsewhere. A timely delivered notice of intent to defend adds ten days. Court orders, filed consent and default status require separate checks.

Responsible actor. The defendant served with an Ontario Superior Court statement of claim.

Identify the statement of claim and establish effective service under the applicable rule 16 route. A postal dispatch date alone may not establish service.

Select where the defendant was served. Residence, citizenship, the plaintiff location and the court location do not themselves select the branch.

Rule 3.01(1)(d) expressly excludes originating process. Do not automatically move statement-of-claim service solely because it occurred after 4 p.m.

Read any delivered Form 18B, filed consent, court order and default record before using the ordinary period.

Use the ordinary original statement-of-defence branch after establishing effective service and its place. Select the service-place branch. This calculator does not add the notice-of-intent extension or determine default status.

1. Establish the effective service date and the applicable ordinary branch.
2. Exclude the service day. Count the selected calendar-day period.
3. Adjust a final holiday or qualifying office closure under the governing instrument.
4. Complete each required service and accepted filing act, preserving proof.

Rule 3.01 excludes the service day and includes the final day. These periods exceed seven days, so intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and holidays count. Adjust only a final holiday under rule 3.01(1)(c).

Rule 1.03(1) includes Saturdays, Sundays, named holidays, specified substitute holidays and special proclaimed holidays. The bundled Ontario calendar covers 2025 through 2027. Check actual additional holidays, office closure and contrary court directions.

Fictitious example

Fictitious established effective service on July 06, 2026 in Ontario. The ordinary branch governs, with no variation or extra closure.

Fictitious independently established service facts in 2026 and 2027. No contrary order, operative consent or additional closure applies. These examples do not prove effective service, default status, filing acceptance or completion of service.

Timely notice of intent to defend

Rule 18.02(2) adds ten days to the rule 18.01 period only after timely delivery of Form 18B. Do not count a new ten-day period from the notice date.

Consent or court order

Rule 3.02 permits court variation and variation by filed consent. Preserve the actual operative terms; a request or private assumption is not an entered extension.

Late defence and default

Rule 19.01(5) permits delivery before the defendant is noted in default. Once noted, consent or leave is required. The ordinary due date does not determine that procedural state.

Different pleading

Rule 18.01 expressly excepts the specified counterclaim branch in rule 27.04(2). Do not use this original-claim calculator for that different act.

• Use the ordinary original statement-of-defence branch after establishing effective service and its place. Select the service-place branch. This calculator does not add the notice-of-intent extension or determine default status.
• The selected branch calculates the ordinary period only. Effective service, timely intent to defend, filed consent, orders and default status remain external facts.

• Preserve the claim and proof establishing effective service and service place.
• Choose the matching 20-, 40- or 60-day branch.
• Determine whether Form 18B was delivered within the original prescribed time.
• Prepare Form 18A with the required pleading contents.
• Serve and file the defence with proof of service. Preserve accepted filing confirmation.
• Delivery means service and filing with proof of service under rule 1.03(1). Rule 4.05 requires accepted electronic filing confirmation and distinguishes mailed receipt from dispatch. Use the authorized filing channel for the court and preserve the confirmed filing date. Case Center upload is not itself court filing under rule 4.05.3.