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Ontario Family Law Rules / Rule 13

Financial disclosure

Find the right financial form, provide its supporting documents, and keep the information current before conferences, motions and trial.

1. Purpose: what this process aims to do

Rule 13 — Financial Disclosure gives the court and the other parties the financial information needed to deal with support, property and exclusive possession of the matrimonial home. A party making such a claim in an Application, Answer or motion generally serves and files a financial statement with the claim. The responding party generally provides one within the response period. A parenting-only case may not automatically need one, but the court can order Form 13 under Rule 13(2).Check: Family Law Rules — 13, 13(2)

What it can and cannot do

A financial statement summarizes income, expenses, assets and debts; it does not replace tax records, income proof or other required documents. Financial disclosure helps determine financial issues. It does not itself decide support or property. A conference confirmation tells the court an event is proceeding; it is not a financial update.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13

2. Forms and documents you need

DocumentWhen you need itWhat to include
Form 13 — Financial StatementCheck: Official family forms — Form 13 — Financial StatementSupport claims without a property claim.Current income, expenses, assets and debts, with required schedules and disclosure.
Form 13.1 — Financial StatementCheck: Official family forms — Form 13.1 — Financial StatementProperty claim, with or without support.Required financial details and supporting property records.
Form 13A — Certificate of Financial DisclosureCheck: Official family forms — Form 13A — Certificate of Financial DisclosureTo identify supporting documents disclosed.List documents actually provided; the certificate does not replace them.
Form 14A — AffidavitCheck: Official family forms — Form 14A — AffidavitA financial update allowed by Rule 13(12.1).Confirm no change or describe minor changes. Substantial changes require a new financial statement.
Forms 13B and 13CCheck: Official family forms — Forms 13B and 13CNet family property claim at the prescribed stages.Net family property calculation and the joint comparison required by the rule.
Form 17F — Confirmation of ConferenceCheck: Official family forms — Form 17F — Confirmation of ConferenceFor a separately booked conference.Confirm the event; this does not update financial disclosure.

Choose the documents that apply to your claims and this route. Use the current official forms and check the instructions printed on each form.Check: Official family forms — form instructionsCheck: Family Law Rules — Rule 13

3. Put the package together

How to prepare your disclosure

  1. Identify every financial claim.Check the Application, Answer or motion for child or spousal support, property and exclusive possession. Select Form 13 or 13.1 accordingly, and check any order requiring disclosure in a parenting-only case.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13
  2. Complete the statement accurately.Use current income, expenses, assets and debts. Include the applicable schedules and explain estimates. Redact account numbers and other sensitive identifiers from the filed copy while retaining originals.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13
  3. Gather the evidence behind it.Rule 13(3.1) and the Child Support Guidelines require income material in support cases; claimed section 7 special or extraordinary expenses need proof. Property/equalization claims have a longer document list in Rule 13(3.3), including tax, account, debt, pension and valuation records.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(3.1), 13(3.3)
  4. List what you provided in Form 13A.Give the other party the required supporting documents and complete the certificate. A certificate is not a substitute for documents that have not actually been produced.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13

Before a case or settlement conference

There are two separate checks. Under Rule 13(12), compare the date of the information in your last Form 13 or 13.1 with the conference date. If it will be more than 60 days old, serve and file an update. Under Rule 17, separately complete Form 17F to confirm the conference by 2 p.m. three business days before it. Form 17F does not update your financial statement.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(12), 17Check: East Region direction — paras. 80–85 (confirmation)

  1. If the statement remains accurate: Rule 13(12.1) permits a Form 14A affidavit confirming no changes.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(12.1)
  2. If changes are minor: a Form 14A can describe the changes and confirm that the rest remains true.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13
  3. If changes are substantial: serve and file a new Form 13 or 13.1 with current information and the applicable disclosure material.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13

The 60-day clock: The rule refers to the information in the last financial statement, not the date of a later Form 14A affidavit. A confirmation affidavit updates the information for that event but is not a newly dated Form 13/13.1. At a later conference, check the last financial statement again and update if the rule is triggered.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13

Rule 9 does not require duplicating an unchanged statement already in the record. Rule 13’s affidavit route lets you identify the existing statement and confirm or explain changes. Always provide new supporting information that must be disclosed.Check: Family Law Rules — 9, 13

Property cases and continuing updates

For a net family property claim, Form 13.1 and the underlying records are only part of the package. Rule 13(14) requires Form 13B at the prescribed settlement-conference and trial stages; Rule 13(14.2) also addresses the joint Form 13C comparison. Consult the full rule for deadlines and exceptions.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(14), 13(14.2)

Rule 13(15) requires correction when information is wrong, incomplete or materially changed. The obligation continues after the first statement. If disclosure is not provided, Rule 13(16) allows an order to produce it with costs; continued breach of a disclosure order can lead to the serious consequences listed in Rule 13(17).Check: Family Law Rules — 13(15), 13(16), 13(17)

Page and evidence limits

Rule 13 sets no general page limit on Forms 13, 13.1 or 13A. Complete the required schedules and supply supporting documents as the rule requires. Form 17A conference briefs have a separate 8-page limit under the provincial practice direction, and motion affidavits have separate limits. Do not try to place all bank statements or tax records inside the conference brief to avoid the proper disclosure process.Check: Family Law Rules — 13Check: Provincial family direction — paras. 96, 100–103

4. Get it before the court

Financial disclosure accompanies the claim, response or scheduled event; filing a financial statement does not book a hearing. If disclosure is missing, follow the written-request process below, then raise the request for production at the appropriate conference or motion.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13(1), (11)

File the documents through the right channel

Use Family Submissions Online or the permitted self-represented counter/email route. Follow any urgent-filing instruction or order. Retain the court’s acceptance confirmation and Case Document List; a submission receipt alone is not acceptance.Check: Provincial family direction — paras. 1–7, 13–18

Filing and Case Center are separate. In regions outside Toronto, court staff upload accepted pretrial filings for self-represented people. A Case Center upload does not file a document.Check: Provincial family direction — paras. 29–33

If the other party's disclosure is incomplete

  1. Ask in writing first.Under Rule 13(11), identify the specific missing information and why it is needed to understand the other party's finances. Keep a dated copy and a list of what is later produced.
  2. After seven days: if requested information is still missing, you may ask the court on motion or at a case or settlement conference to order its production or a new financial statement. Tell the court what you requested and what remains outstanding.
  3. Follow the order.Questioning on a financial statement under Rule 20 has its own requirements and follows the Rule 13(11) request. Do not assume that a written request automatically schedules questioning.

Useful record: “On [date], I requested [specific documents]. I received [items]. [Items] remain outstanding. I ask for production by [date].”

5. Service, filing and the timeline

The trigger below may be service, a refusal notice, a court decision or the claim document itself. You do not wait for a new hearing date when the rule requires action earlier.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13

  1. With the claim or response: where Rule 13(1) applies, the claimant provides a financial statement with the Application, Answer or motion; the respondent does so within the applicable response time. Serve supporting material and complete Form 13A as required.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(1)
  2. Conference age test: if the last financial statement information will be more than 60 days old by the case or settlement conference, use the Rule 13(12.1) update route. The party requesting the conference (or applicant when no party requested it) serves and files by 6 days before; the other party by 4 days before, subject to an order.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(12.1)
  3. Conference confirmation: give the other party Form 17F and file it by 2 p.m. three business days before the conference under Rule 17 and the East Region direction. This is separate from the financial update and the Form 17A brief.Check: Family Law Rules — 17Check: East Region direction — paras. 80–85 (confirmation)
  4. Other events: Rule 13(12) uses a 30-day age test for a motion and a 40-day test for trial, with their own filing deadlines. Review the current subrules and the hearing order before those events; Rule 3 explains how to count days.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(12), 3

Carry out the document and delivery steps

  1. Serve and file the required court documents.Serve under Rule 6, record service using Form 6B, and file through the applicable route. Check Rule 9 for how documents belong in the continuing record. Rule 13(10) can prevent acceptance of a pleading or motion that lacks a required financial statement.Check: Family Law Rules — 6, 9, 13(10)

6. Hot points to remember

  • Form 13A is a document list: you still have to disclose the supporting records.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13
  • No automatic duplicate: cite the existing financial statement in the record and use a permitted Form 14A update when it remains accurate or changes are minor.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13
  • Check the statement itself for age: the 60-day conference test refers to the last financial statement information; a later Form 14A does not become a new Form 13.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13
  • Keep proof of requests: write specifically, wait the Rule 13(11) seven days, then identify what remains missing to the court.Check: Family Law Rules — 13(11)
  • Keep it current: correct errors and material changes promptly, even between events.Check: Family Law Rules — Rule 13