- Ontario family courts generally start from the idea that a successful party is entitled to have some of their reasonable legal costs paid by the other side.
- - Failing to provide financial or parenting disclosure on time, or at all - Bringing motions or claims with little realistic chance of success - Rejecting a reasonable settlement offer…
Litigating a family law case is expensive, and one of the first questions clients ask is who ends up paying for it. In Ontario family court, the answer isn't automatic. A family court costs award is a separate decision a judge makes, usually after the substantive issues are resolved, about whether one side has to contribute to the other side's legal costs — and if so, how much.
Costs decisions can meaningfully change the overall outcome of a case, sometimes by a significant margin. Understanding what judges actually look at when deciding costs can shape how you approach negotiation, disclosure, and even how reasonable your positions are throughout the case — not just at the end.
The General Starting Point
Ontario family courts generally start from the idea that a successful party is entitled to have some of their reasonable legal costs paid by the other side. But that's just a starting point. Judges have broad discretion to adjust, reduce, or even deny a costs award based on how each party actually behaved throughout the case, not just who "won" on paper.
Factors a Judge Typically Weighs
| Factor | What It Looks Like in Practice |
|---|---|
| Overall result | Which party succeeded, and by how much, on the issues that mattered most |
| Reasonableness of each party's positions | Whether a party's claims or defences had a realistic basis, or were pursued despite little chance of success |
| Conduct during the case | Whether a party caused unnecessary delay, ignored disclosure obligations, or acted in bad faith |
| Offers to settle | Whether either party made a formal offer, and whether the eventual result was better or worse than that offer for the party who rejected it |
| Importance and complexity of the issues | Whether the case genuinely required the time and resources spent on it |
| Ability to pay | A party's financial circumstances can factor into what's a fair and proportionate order |
Conduct That Can Increase What You're Ordered to Pay
- Failing to provide financial or parenting disclosure on time, or at all
- Bringing motions or claims with little realistic chance of success
- Rejecting a reasonable settlement offer and ending up with a worse result at trial
- Behaving in bad faith, including using the litigation process to pressure or exhaust the other side
Conduct That Can Reduce or Eliminate a Costs Award Against You
- Making genuine, reasonable efforts to settle throughout the case
- Being transparent and timely with disclosure
- Narrowing the issues in dispute rather than fighting every point
- Achieving a result reasonably close to a position you offered to settle for earlier
How Costs Actually Get Decided
Costs are usually addressed after the main decision on the substantive issues, either through written submissions from both sides or a short costs hearing. The party asking for costs typically has to justify the amount requested, and the other side can respond with reasons the amount should be reduced or the request denied entirely. The same judge who heard the case usually decides costs, since they've seen how the litigation actually unfolded from the inside.
What You'll Need to Provide If You're Seeking Costs
A party asking for a costs award generally needs to put forward a clear breakdown of the legal fees and disbursements they actually incurred, along with an explanation of why the amount requested is fair given how the case unfolded. Judges look more favourably on a request that's specific and well-documented than on a general request for "costs" without supporting detail — and the other side gets a chance to challenge both the amount and the reasoning behind it.
Costs at Earlier Stages, Not Just the End
Costs aren't reserved only for the end of a full trial. A judge can also award costs after a single motion, a case conference, or another discrete step, particularly where one side's conduct on that specific step was unreasonable. That means costs exposure is something to keep in mind throughout a case, not just as a final-day consideration once everything else has been decided.
Frequently asked questions
Does the losing party always pay the winning party's costs?
No. While success is an important factor, Ontario family courts don't apply an automatic "loser pays" rule the way some other areas of law do — conduct and reasonableness throughout the case matter just as much.
Can I be ordered to pay costs even if I partly won?
Yes. Costs awards often reflect mixed or partial success rather than an all-or-nothing outcome, especially in cases involving several separate issues where each side succeeded on some and not others.
Do settlement offers really affect costs that much?
They can. Rejecting a formal offer to settle and then obtaining a worse result than what was offered is one of the more common reasons a costs award goes against a party — it's a real incentive built into the system to encourage reasonable settlement.
Is there a cap on how much I could be ordered to pay in costs?
There's no fixed cap. A judge has discretion over the amount, guided by what's fair and proportionate given the case, so it isn't something a general dollar figure can be attached to.
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