How To Enforce An Out-of-province Judgment

You successfully obtain a judgment in Alberta, only to discover the judgment debtor has moved to Ontario and has assets there. Now what? Can you immediately enforce your judgment? The short answer is no. 

Conveniently, creditors seeking to enforce judgments in Ontario from other provinces and territories (except for Quebec) can do so by commencing an application in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, pursuant to the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.5. The Act contains specific requirements, including the method of service of the application, certain exceptions to registration, and the time limit for registration. Once a judgment is registered under the Act in Ontario it can be enforced in Ontario as if it were an Ontario judgment.

Subsection 2(2) of the Act permits applicants to register a judgment without service upon a debtor if the original action was served upon the debtor, and the debtor appeared or submitted materials in the original action. If the debtor was not served and did not submit materials or appear before the original court, then reasonable notice of the application must be made upon the debtor. 

The Act does not define what reasonable notice is. The court in CMHC v. Bukasa, 2024 ONSC 5667 ordered, where reasonable notice was not provided to a debtor, that a creditor serve a debtor personally. Importantly, the court in CMHC did not state that personal service constituted “reasonable notice” under the Act, and judicial guidance on the matter remains limited.

There are also exceptions to the Act for which judgments will not be registered. These include:

1. The original court lacked jurisdiction;
2. The debtor was not carrying on business, nor were they a resident in the jurisdiction of the original court, and did not voluntarily appear or submit in the original proceedings;
3. The debtor was not served with the original action and did not appear, even though the debtor was ordinarily a resident or was carrying on business in the original jurisdiction;
4. The judgment was obtained by fraud;
5. An appeal is pending, or the debtor is entitled to appeal and intends to do so;
6. The judgment was regarding a matter that the registering court sees as unreasonable due to public policy reasons; or
7. The Debtor would have a good defence if an action were brought against the original judgment. 

Finally, and most importantly, an application under the Act must occur within 6 years of the creditor obtaining judgment in their original jurisdiction. 

Registering judgments between provinces can be a straightforward process, but to ensure the avoidance of unnecessary delays creditors should keep in mind the above restrictions and requirements when attempting to register a judgment in Ontario.