Civil and Family Law Statistics: Interactive dashboard

Additional information

The Civil and Family Law Statistics interactive dashboard provides a overview of civil court services and maintenance enforcement programs in Canada.

The Civil and Family Law Statistics Interactive Dashboard replaces the Court Statistics Interactive Dashboard, which was archived in January 2022. For data on youth courts and adult criminal courts, please see the Integrated Criminal Court Survey Interactive Dashboard on Preliminary Quarterly Data and the Integrated Criminal Court Survey Interactive Dashboard on Annual Key indicators. 

All the information presented in this dashboard are available on Statistics Canada's website. Please refer to the following documentation for more details:

Civil court

The Civil Court Survey is a census survey and when fully implemented, it will collect data from all civil courts in Canada, including all the superior and provincial-territorial courts hearing civil matters including general civil, family, probate and small claims. Appeal courts, federal courts (e.g., Tax Court of Canada) and the Supreme Court of Canada are not covered by the survey. The collection of data is from administrative records, in which data are derived from records originally kept for non-statistical purposes. In particular, survey data are obtained from case files located in existing civil court automated information systems. Given that the data collection methodology requires the existence of detailed operational information systems that have not yet been developed in all jurisdictions it will take time for the survey to achieve full coverage.

Table 35-10-0112-01 Civil court cases, by level of court and type of case, Canada and selected provinces and territories

Table 35-10-0114-01 General civil court cases, by type of action, Canada and selected provinces and territories

Survey 5052 Civil Court Survey (CCS)

Maintenance enforcement programs

The Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs (SMEP) collects information on child and spousal support payments and cases from provincial and territorial maintenance enforcement programs (MEPs). These programs exist in each province and territory to assist in the collection and enforcement of child and spousal support payments.

The SMEP data provide information on the volume and type of cases enrolled, enforcement actions taken, support amounts due and compliance with support payments, among other measures. The data do not cover all support cases in Canada, as not all support orders are registered in MEPs.The SMEP is a microdata survey that provides more detailed information than the former aggregate Maintenance Enforcement Survey (MES) (see legacy version of record number 3324).

Table 35-10-0102-01 Maintenance enforcement programs, by annual caseload, Canada and selected provinces and territories

Table 35-10-0105-01 Maintenance enforcement programs, cases enrolled, by compliance with regular and total payments, arrears status and assignment status at March 31, Canada and selected provinces and territories

Survey 3324 Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs (SMEP)

Notes

• The Civil Court Survey (CCS) collects data on civil court events and cases at both the superior and provincial-territorial court levels. Appeal courts, federal courts (for example, Tax Court of Canada) and the Supreme Court of Canada are out of scope for this survey. Data are based on the fiscal year (April 1st to March 31st).
• A general civil case is any civil action that is not a family-related action, such as contracts, torts, bankruptcy, probate matters and other claims involving money.
• Family cases are cases involving family law-related issues, including child protection, divorce, separation, custody and access, division of property, support, and adoption.
• The Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs (SMEP) collects information on child and spousal support payments and cases from provincial and territorial maintenance enforcement programs (MEPs). These programs exist in each province and territory to assist in the collection and enforcement of child and spousal support payments.
• The compliance rate is the proportion of cases with an amount due that were in compliance in a given month. Full compliance is the percent of cases that made their payment in full and partial compliance is the percent of cases that made partial payment.