Form 18b Notice Of Intent To Defend: Fill & Download for Free

Look, I get it. Attorneys are expensive.But, here you are. You’re being sued. You clearly have no idea what to do.This is despite the fact that, in most jurisdictions, there are clear instructions on what you must do right there in the statement of claim or other document that starts the lawsuit.Ontario Court form 14A contains this information succinctly, but explicitlyIF YOU WISH TO DEFEND THIS PROCEEDING, you or an Ontario lawyer acting for you must prepare a statement of defence in Form 18A prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure, serve it on the plaintiff’s lawyer or, where the plaintiff does not have a lawyer, serve it on the plaintiff, and file it, with proof of service in this court office, WITHIN TWENTY DAYS after this statement of claim is served on you, if you are served in Ontario. If you are served in another province or territory of Canada or in the United States of America, the period for serving and filing your statement of defence is forty days. If you are served outside Canada and the United States of America, the period is sixty days. Instead of serving and filing a statement of defence, you may serve and file a notice of intent to defend in Form 18B prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure. This will entitle you to ten more days within which to serve and file your statement of defence.And form 18A is available online.But you have a lot to do yet, and there won’t be any instructions from this point forward. You’re expected to either hire a lawyer or do your own research. Either way is going to be expensive, either money or your own time. Your lawyer will know what to do and why they’re doing it.So, you do not respond to a lawsuit without at least consulting an attorney UNLESS it’s in the small claims court. The small claims court will help you with each step. A superior court cannot and will not.This is not to say you can’t represent yourself in a superior court lawsuit. However, it’s a bit like staging your own production of “Hamlet” where you’re going to play the primary role and do everything else to get the play on the stage, including selling tickets. A lawyer will have no problem prepping you or, more importantly, ensuring that you’re up to acting on your own.So here’s a story. I once knew a lawyer who had a client coming up for a one-day trial. They were pretty broke, but he told them to just show up, wait for the plaintiff to present their evidence, then ask the court to dismiss the action for failure to prove their case. They went alone. They listened to the evidence and said nothing. They then waited for the plaintiff to rest and asked the judge to dismiss the case. The judge did.Your lawsuit is unlikely to follow a similar trajectory, but you’re right that you don’t need a lawyer at every stage if you’re willing to work hard, learn, and listen to advice. In fact “advice” is the lawyer’s cheapest service. Its clients who don’t listen to their lawyer, or whose lawyers won’t challenge their client’s case, who spend all the money.So see a lawyer. Now. Otherwise I can pretty much guarantee that you’re going to spend more time and money than is necessary no matter what the merits of the underlying lawsuit.