The Best Option for You
If You Go to Supreme Court
How do I apply for a desk order?
You can apply for a desk order if your spouse decides not to contest your Statement of Claim or does not reply to it.
To apply for a desk order, you will need to submit a number of documents to the court registry. They are slightly different, depending on whether divorce is part of your Statement of Claim.
Important!
If your application for a desk order is incomplete or incorrect - for example, you have forgotten a form or missed a section in a document - court staff will reject your application and you will have to correct and re-submit it.
If your Statement of Claim includes divorce, you will need to submit:
- A requisition (Form 2), telling the court what you want - a divorce, for example, with sole custody of the children.
- A Plaintiff's Affidavit (Form 132), setting out the facts of the case for the judge - for example, if your Statement of Claim includes:
- custody and access, the affidavit must provide details about your children's current and proposed living arrangements and a summary of who has had custody to date
- child or spousal support, the affidavit must set out your reasons for needing support, specify the amount of support you are claiming, and any information you may have about the Defendant's income and assets
- a division of property, the affidavit should list the family assets (car, house, etc.), how much they are worth, and who will get what and, if it is not an equal division, explain why one person is getting more than the other
- A Financial Statement (Form 89), providing details about your current financial situation, if your Statement of Claim includes spousal support and/or the division of property and you have not filed one already.
- A Child Support Affidavit (Form 133), if you have dependent children, describing how you and your spouse will continue to financially support your children. This form is required, whether or not you are also asking for child support.
- An Agreement as to Annual Income and Amount of Child Support (Form 91A), if child support is part of your Statement of Claim and the Defendant agrees with your claim (you cannot use this form unless the Defendant agrees to the amount of child support).
This form provides details about the paying parent's income, and must be signed by both you and the Defendant. You must also attach a copy of the paying parent's most recent personal income tax return and most recent income tax assessment. If you do not have one or the other of these documents, you will need to include an affidavit explaining why they are not available and provide other evidence, such as pay stubs or a letter from the paying parent's employer confirming his or her current salary, that the amount you are claiming for child support is reasonable.
- A draft order, written in numbered paragraphs. (Please see the Supreme Court's web site for a sample draft order.)
Important!
- If the Defendant agrees with your Statement of Claim, he or she must sign the draft order. In addition, if the order includes child or spousal support, the Plaintiff's Affidavit must state that the Defendant has consented (agreed) to the amount of support and has demonstrated that consent by signing the draft order.
- If the Defendant has not replied to your Statement of Claim, and you are claiming child or spousal support, you will need to prove that the Defendant is aware you are claiming support and in what amount. You can do this by stating within your Plaintiff's Affidavit that the amount you are asking for in your draft order is exactly the same as what you asked for in your original Statement of Claim (you cannot change the amount at this point), and that the Defendant was properly served with that Statement of Claim.
- A registrar's certificate. This is a form signed by registry staff to show the judge that they have checked your documents and that they are satisfied everything is procedurally correct. (See the Legal Services Society's on-line divorce self-help kit - Step 7 - for more information about the certificate and for a blank certificate form.)
- The Affidavit of Service, signed by the person who served the Writ of Summons and your Statement of Claim on the Defendant when you started your family law proceeding, proving to the court that the documents were served.
The numbered forms are available on-line, through the Supreme Court's web site.
If your Statement of Claim does NOT include divorce, you will need to submit:
- A requisition (Form 56). The requisition tells the court what you want - sole custody of the children, for example, or child support.
- An affidavit (no form provided, but you could use paragraphs 1 - 3 of Form 132 to begin) setting out the facts of the case for the judge - for example, if your Statement of Claim includes:
- A Financial Statement (Form 89), providing details about your current financial situation, if your Statement of Claim includes spousal support and/or the division of property and you have not filed one already.
- A Child Support Affidavit (Form 133), if you have dependent children and you are claiming child support, describing how you and your spouse will continue to financially support your children.
- An Agreement as to Annual Income and Amount of Child Support (Form 91A), if child support is part of your Statement of Claim and the Defendant agrees with your claim (you cannot use this form unless the Defendant agrees to the amount of child support).
This form provides details about the paying parent's income, and must be signed by both you and the Defendant. You must also attach a copy of the paying parent's most recent personal income tax return and most recent income tax assessment. If you do not have one or the other of these documents, you will need to include an affidavit explaining why they are not available and provide other evidence, such as pay stubs or a letter from the paying parent's employer confirming his or her current salary, that the amount you are claiming for child support is reasonable.
- A draft order, written in numbered paragraphs. (Please see the Supreme Court's web site for a sample draft order. Please note, however: because you are not asking for a divorce, you will not need to include the sample's Paragraph 1.)
Important!
- If the Defendant agrees with your Statement of Claim, he or she must sign the draft order. In addition, if the order includes child or spousal support, your affidavit will need to state that the Defendant has consented (agreed) to the amount of support and has demonstrated that consent by signing the draft order.
- If the Defendant has not replied to your Statement of Claim, and you are claiming child or spousal support, you will need to prove that the Defendant is aware you are claiming support and in what amount. You can do this by stating within your affidavit that the amount you are asking for in your draft order is exactly the same as what you asked for in your original Statement of Claim (you cannot change the amount at this point), and that the Defendant was properly served with that Statement of Claim.
- The Affidavit of Service, signed by the person who served the Writ of Summons and your Statement of Claim on the Defendant when you started your family law proceeding, proving to the court that the documents were served.
The numbered forms are available on-line, through the Supreme Court's web site.
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