Under rule 6.01(1) of the Rules of the Small Claims Court, you file in the territorial division where the cause of action arose or where any defendant lives or carries on business, or at the court’s place of sitting nearest to where any defendant lives or carries on business. The rule is written around the defendant, not you. Enter the defendant’s address in the tool above and it will list every court that qualifies and name the branch of the rule that authorizes each one.

A territorial division is the geographic unit rule 6.01 is written in terms of. Under rule 1.02(1) there are 49 of them in Ontario: counties, united counties, regional municipalities, territorial districts, and a handful of single-tier cities including Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Chatham-Kent. They are not the same as cities, postal codes, or the eight judicial regions used for Superior Court civil matters.

There are 59 Small Claims Court filing offices, taken from the Ministry’s own e-filing court list rather than a directory. Older lists circulating online quote figures closer to 90, which reflects locations that have since closed or been consolidated. There are also satellite locations where the court sits but which do not accept filings, so a courthouse existing near you does not mean you can file there.

Usually yes. The branches of rule 6.01(1) are alternatives joined by “or”, so a typical claim has two or three valid courts. The tool above lists all of them rather than picking one, because the best choice depends on convenience, travel, and where you expect the defendant to respond from. Any court on the list is a lawful place to commence.

You follow the defendant, not yourself. Rule 6.01(1) never mentions the plaintiff. A Toronto plaintiff suing a Windsor contractor over work done in Windsor does not file in Toronto. Enter the defendant’s address above and the tool will show the courts available on that basis.

No. Forty-eight of the 49 territorial divisions have at least one filing office. Haliburton County has none. The court sits at Minden, but Minden does not accept filings, and the office that administers it is Lindsay, which sits in the City of Kawartha Lakes, a different territorial division. If you search a Haliburton address the tool says so plainly and tells you to call the court office to confirm before filing rather than guessing.

Yes. Most Plaintiff’s Claims can be issued through the province’s online filing service, and every one of the 59 courts can be selected there. Filing online does not change which court is correct: you still have to choose a court authorized by rule 6.01(1), and the portal asks you to select one. That is the question this tool answers.