Form 8A: what the affidavit of service asks, box by box

In Ontario's Small Claims Court, delivering a claim to the other side does not put anything on the court's record. The record changes when someone files proof that the delivery happened. For a person without a lawyer or paralegal, that proof is Form 8A, the affidavit of service: three pages of boxes, a signature, and an oath or affirmation taken in front of a commissioner. The current version is dated August 1, 2022, and it carries a fourth page of instructions marked "do not file".

The person who served is the person who swears

The form opens with "My name is", then "I live in" with a municipality and province, then the words "and I swear/affirm that the following is true". Everything after that line is a first-hand account. The instruction page says the person who serves the papers has to keep careful notes and tell the court who was served, when, and how.

That person is often someone other than the plaintiff. The same instruction page lists who may do the serving: the party, a friend or co-worker, a hired process server, or a representative. Whoever it was, the affidavit is theirs. A plaintiff whose brother delivered the envelope cannot swear Form 8A about it, because the plaintiff did not see it happen. The brother attends, with his own photo identification, and signs.

One exception sits in rule 8.09.1 of the Rules of the Small Claims Court. Service may be proved by an affidavit of service in Form 8A or by a lawyer's or paralegal's certificate of service in Form 8B. The form's own note adds that only lawyers and paralegals can use the certificate, and a certificate is not sworn.

Section 1 records who, when, where and what

Section 1 is a single sentence with blanks: "I served" a named person or corporation, on a date, at an address, with named documents. The address may be a street address, a mailing address or an email address. Under it the form asks what kind of address that was, and offers six choices:

• the address of the person's home;
• the address of the place of business of the corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship;
• the address of the person's or corporation's representative on record with the court;
• the address on the document most recently filed in court by the party;
• the address of the corporation's attorney for service in Ontario;
• another address, which the deponent then specifies.

The last blank, "with", takes the name of each document served, such as a plaintiff's claim. Each affidavit names one person served, which is why a claim against two defendants produces two affidavits.

Section 2 lists the methods, and a claim cannot use all of them

Section 2 asks how service took place, by checking the box or boxes that apply. Rule 8.01 (1) says a plaintiff's claim or a defendant's claim is served personally, or by one of the alternatives to personal service in rule 8.03. Other documents, a defence among them, may also go by mail, courier or email under rule 8.01 (14). The form prints that limit beside the boxes it affects.

Box on Form 8A	Open for a claim?	What the form says to attach or write in
Personal service on an individual	Yes	Nothing. The copy was left with the person.
Personal service on a corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship	Yes	The name of the person the copy was left with, and that person's office or position
Adult at the place of residence	Yes, after personal service at the residence was attempted and failed	Which way the second copy was sent on the same or the following day: regular lettermail, registered mail or courier
Registered mail	Yes	A copy of the Canada Post delivery confirmation showing the signature that verifies delivery
Courier	Yes	A copy of the courier's delivery confirmation showing the signature
The person's lawyer or paralegal	Yes	A copy of the document endorsed with the acceptance of service and its date
Email	Only where the rules authorize it	The email address and the time it was sent
Regular lettermail	No	Nothing
Substituted service	Only as a judge has ordered	The date of the order and the details of what was done

The household box is worded with care. The copy goes in a sealed envelope addressed to the person, and it is left with someone "who appeared to be an adult member of the same household". The deponent swears to what they saw at the door. They do not swear to that person's age or relationship.

There are further boxes for a minor, a mentally incapable person, an absentee, the Crown, and a corporation whose head office cannot be found, where copies go to the corporation and to each director at the addresses on the government record. Substituted service exists because rule 8.04 lets the court allow it where prompt service is impractical. The order comes first and the affidavit follows it.

Section 3 is for a witness summons and for anything that did not fit

Section 3 has two boxes. One records the attendance money paid or tendered when a summons to witness was served. The other says that more details are on a separate sheet attached to the affidavit. An attached sheet is part of what is sworn, so it is at the appointment with the form.

When service counts as made

The date written in Section 1 is the date the deponent acted. The rules then say when that act takes effect, and the two dates can differ.

• A claim left with an adult at the residence, with a second copy sent after it, is effective on the fifth day after the mailing, or on the day the courier verifies delivery (rule 8.03 (4)).
• A claim sent to an individual's residence by registered mail or courier is effective on the date receipt is verified by signature (rule 8.03 (8)).
• Other documents sent by mail are effective on the fifth day following the date of mailing (rule 8.07 (2)).
• Email is effective on the day it is sent, or on the following day when it goes out between 4 p.m. and midnight (rule 8.08 (4)).

Two other clocks start from these dates. Rule 8.01 (2) gives six months from the day a claim is issued to serve it, and the court may extend that time. Rule 9.01 gives a defendant who disputes the claim 20 days from being served to serve and file a defence.

Three jurat blocks, and only one gets filled in

The bottom of page three is the commissioner's part. It starts with a choice, "Sworn/Affirmed before me (select one)", in person or by video conference, and then prints three separate blocks:

1. In person. The block records the city or town, the county or regional municipality, and the date.
2. By videoconference, with the deponent and the commissioner in the same city or town. It adds the deponent's name and the words "in accordance with O. Reg. 431/20, Administering Oath or Declaration Remotely".
3. By videoconference, with the two in different places. It records the deponent's location and the commissioner's location separately, under the same regulation.

Each block ends with two lines side by side: "Signature of Commissioner (or as may be)" and "Signature of Deponent". The deponent's line is signed during the appointment, after the oath or affirmation, which is why the form arrives with that line blank. The words "or as may be" cover a notary public, who holds a commissioner's powers under the Notaries Act. A sworn affidavit and a statutory declaration are different instruments, and Form 8A is the first kind.

Under the jurat, in a box of its own, the form prints one sentence in capitals:

WARNING: IT IS AN OFFENCE UNDER THE CRIMINAL CODE TO KNOWINGLY SWEAR OR AFFIRM A FALSE AFFIDAVIT.

The commissioner's signature confirms that the oath or affirmation was administered and that the deponent signed. It says nothing about whether the service met the rules. That question belongs to the court.

What the sworn form is used for afterwards

The instruction page says the affidavit may be filed online. From then on, steps that depend on service can refer to it. The plainest example is default. Under rule 11.01 (1), the clerk may note a defendant in default when no defence was filed within the prescribed time, on proof that the claim was served. Rule 9.01 works the same way in the other direction: a defence is filed with proof that it was served on every other party, so defendants swear Form 8A as well.

A party who moves after the case has started has a duty of their own. Rule 8.09 requires notice of a new address for service to be served within seven days after the change, and the fourth address choice in Section 1, the address on the document most recently filed, depends on that notice.

Before the form reaches the commissioner's desk

Swearing Form 8A is a short appointment when the form is complete. Read from top to bottom, the form shows what has to be ready:

• The person attending is the one who served, and has current government photo identification.
• Sections 1 and 2 are filled in, with the claim number and the parties' names at the top of page one and the claim number repeated on pages two and three.
• The delivery confirmation, the endorsed copy or the separate sheet is attached, where the box that was checked calls for one.
• The signature line is blank.
• The instruction page stays out of the filed copy, as it says.

The Small Claims Court page describes the document work this office does for a claim, the affidavits page covers sworn statements in general, and a time can be set on the booking page.