Glossary - Tribunals and Courts
In Family Law, Tribunals and Courts
A process server is someone who is in the business of serving or giving documents to a party involved in a court case. To find process servers in your area, look in the yellow pages or visit www.canada411.ca and search for “process server”.
Registered mail is mail that is tracked from the time it is sent until it is delivered. It usually requires the person who accepts the delivery to confirm that they received the package by signing for it.
Seizure is when an enforcement officer lawfully takes land or personal property to pay for money owed because of a court order. Often, the property is sold and the money is used to pay the creditor.
In Family Law, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Give or deliver a document to someone. Usually the law says how you can give or deliver the document, who has to get it, and the deadline by which they have to get it.
In Family Law, Tribunals and Courts
A settlement conference is a meeting between a judge, the parties, and their lawyers if they have any. The purposes of a settlement conference include:
- talking about ways to solve those issues without going to a trial
- if possible, obtaining the judge’s view of how the court might decide the case
- thinking about any matter that may help solve the case
A Sheriff’s Demand is when an enforcement officer requests money from the court clerk in order to give it to the creditor.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law, Housing Law, Tribunals and Courts
A summons is a legal document that requires a witness to come to a trial or a hearing on a specific date to tell their part of the story.
When a court holds money in trust, it keeps the money safe for specific purpose. For example, it holds money paid by a debtor because of a court order until it is time to give that money to the creditor.
In Employment and Work, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Ontario’s Human Rights Code says that employers and landlords must do what they can to remove barriers that cause people to be treated differently because of personal differences that are listed in the Human Rights Code. The legal word for this is accommodation. Examples of personal differences include a person’s ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.
But an employer or landlord might not have to do something if they can prove that doing it will cause them undue hardship. For example, it would be undue hardship:
- if the only solution available would cost the employer or landlord too much
- if the only solution would cause a serious risk to the health or safety to other workers or tenants
In Debt and Consumer Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Unfair business practices are any dishonest way a company gets your business. This includes a company:
- making false or misleading promises to you
- overcharging you for goods
- taking advantage of your disability, languages you don’t understand, or challenges you have with reading
- pressuring you to buy their goods or services
