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Toronto has two family courthouses in the Ontario Court of Justice, and which one hears your case is decided by your provincial electoral district rather than by your neighbourhood. Our office is at Sheppard and Yonge, minutes from one of them.
Start My Enquiry →Our North York office, 2 Sheppard Ave E at Sheppard-Yonge | Family courts at 47 Sheppard Ave E and 361 University Ave | Initial Assessments
A family case in Toronto can end up in one of three courtrooms, and the routing is not obvious. The Superior Court of Justice sits at 361 University Avenue and is the only court that can grant a divorce, divide property or deal with the matrimonial home. The Ontario Court of Justice hears parenting, support and child protection but none of those three, and it sits in two different family courthouses.
Which of the two is yours is decided by your provincial electoral district. Since 1 September 2024, new family cases in the Ontario Court of Justice have been allocated between 47 Sheppard Avenue East and 311 Jarvis Street on that basis, under a practice direction of the Ontario Court of Justice. The court describes those boundaries as temporary, which is worth remembering if you are reading this some time after it was written.
Most North York addresses fall to 47 Sheppard Avenue East. The districts it serves include Willowdale, York Centre, Eglinton-Lawrence, Humber River-Black Creek, and Don Valley North, West and East. The allocation is by district and not by neighbourhood name, and there are results that surprise people: Etobicoke North is served by 47 Sheppard while Etobicoke Centre and Etobicoke-Lakeshore go to 311 Jarvis, and most of Scarborough goes to 47 Sheppard while Scarborough Southwest goes to Jarvis.
Our office is at 2 Sheppard Avenue East, on the subway at Sheppard-Yonge and a short distance from the 47 Sheppard courthouse. Checking which court a case belongs in is the first thing we do, and it takes a postal code.
Toronto is not a Family Court site, so the jurisdiction is split. The claims you are making decide which level of court, and your electoral district decides which building within the Ontario Court of Justice.
Parenting orders, child and spousal support, restraining orders and child protection, where no divorce and no property claim is being made. This courthouse serves most North York electoral districts, along with much of Scarborough and Etobicoke North. It cannot grant a divorce and it cannot divide property.
Divorce, equalization of net family property, the matrimonial home, and any parenting or support claim brought together with one of those. Family trials, long motions and conferences are heard here. Filing in Toronto is now done electronically, so the address matters mainly for attendances in person.
Our North York office at 2 Sheppard Avenue East is on the subway at Sheppard-Yonge, with parking in the building.
The rule is simple to state. If you want a divorce, an equalization payment, or an order about the matrimonial home, you must be in the Superior Court of Justice. If you want only parenting orders or support, you may go to either, and the Ontario Court of Justice is often faster and less formal.
The complication is that many people want both, and want them at different times. A parenting order obtained in the Ontario Court of Justice does not prevent a later divorce and property claim in the Superior Court, but running two proceedings about one family is expensive and can produce inconsistent results. Where property is likely to be in issue eventually, there is usually a good argument for starting in one court and keeping it there.
Within the Ontario Court of Justice, the choice of building is not yours. It is set by your provincial electoral district under the practice direction in force since 1 September 2024. We confirm the district from the postal code before an application is issued, because a case started in the wrong place is a case that has to be moved.
A great deal of North York wealth sits in a single property, frequently a condominium bought during the marriage. Ontario equalises the growth in each spouse’s net worth rather than dividing assets in half, so what matters is the change between the date of marriage and the date of separation.
Two rules decide most of these files. A matrimonial home brought into the marriage cannot be deducted at its date of marriage value, and neither can the mortgage that was on it, so a spouse who owned the place before the wedding gets no credit for it. And a gift or inheritance used towards a home has to be traceable to the valuation date if an exclusion is to be claimed, with the onus on the person claiming it.
Parenting decisions are made on the best interests of the child, with the statutory factors as the framework. Where no divorce or property claim is being made, these cases are usually brought in the Ontario Court of Justice at 47 Sheppard, which is a short distance from our office.
Child support is formula driven, so most support disputes are disclosure disputes. Where a parent is self-employed or paid through a corporation, the Guidelines give a court routes to a figure the tax return does not show.
Our North York office is at 2 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 303, directly at Sheppard-Yonge station and a short distance from the family courthouse at 47 Sheppard Avenue East. Most matters qualify for a no-obligation initial assessment, in person, by telephone or by video. Bring your postal code and we will confirm which court your case belongs in while you are here.
2 Sheppard Ave East, Suite 303
Toronto, ON M2N 5Y7
At Sheppard-Yonge station, minutes from the 47 Sheppard courthouse
55 University Ave, Suite 1100, Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
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