There's a website that contains the full written decision from nearly every Ontario divorce case in the last 30 years. Every spousal support ruling. Every property dispute. Every judge's reasoning, in their own words, publicly available for free. Most people going through divorce have no idea it exists.
It's called CanLII. Here's what it is, why it matters for your situation, and how to actually use it without needing a law degree.
What Is CanLII?
CanLII — the Canadian Legal Information Institute — is a free, public database of court decisions and legislation from every province and territory in Canada. It's run as a non-profit by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, and the whole point of its existence is to make Canadian law accessible to regular people, not just to lawyers who can afford expensive legal research subscriptions.
No account. No subscription. No paywall. You go to canlii.org and the entire database is right there.
For Ontario family law, CanLII has:
- Thousands of Superior Court of Justice decisions — spousal support, divorce, property division
- Court of Appeal rulings that set binding precedent
- Ontario Court of Justice decisions on support
- Cases going back decades, with recent decisions added within days of being issued
Lawyers use CanLII constantly. It's their primary research tool. The fact that it's also available to you — free — is one of the most under-appreciated things about the Canadian legal system.
Why Should You Care About This?
Because courts don't decide your case in a vacuum. They look at what other courts have done in similar situations.
When your lawyer argues that support should be at the lower end of the SSAG range, they're pointing to cases where courts accepted that reasoning. When the other side argues for the high end, they're doing the same thing. The entire negotiation and litigation process is anchored in precedent — what judges in comparable situations actually ordered.
CanLII lets you see those cases directly. Not summaries. Not someone else's interpretation. The actual decisions.
Here's what that's worth to you practically:
You can see what judges say about situations like yours
Self-employed income? There are hundreds of decisions where judges wrestled with exactly how to calculate it. Common-law relationship of 8 years? You can find cases that match. Retirement as a reason to reduce support? Judges have ruled on it extensively, and you can read their reasoning.
You can walk into a lawyer consultation better prepared
If you've read 5 or 10 decisions that resemble your situation, you're having a different conversation than someone who walked in cold. You're asking about specific cases, specific outcomes, specific reasoning. That's a more productive — and shorter — consultation.
You can understand why your lawyer is saying what they're saying
Legal advice can feel abstract — "courts tend to..." and "judges generally..." CanLII shows you the actual evidence behind those statements. It replaces vague generalities with specific decisions you can read yourself.
What the Three Ontario Courts Actually Mean
CanLII covers three Ontario courts relevant to family law. They're not interchangeable — and knowing the difference matters when you're reading results.
Court of Appeal for Ontario ONCA
The highest level. When ONCA rules on something, it's binding precedent — lower courts must follow it. If you find a Court of Appeal decision that matches your situation, that's significant. Court of Appeal decisions address questions of principle: how should imputed income be calculated, when is the Rule of 65 triggered, under what circumstances should indefinite support be varied. They set the framework that trial courts apply.
If an ONCA decision matches your situation — read it first.
Superior Court of Justice ONSC
This is where most Ontario divorces actually get decided. The bulk of CanLII's Ontario family law decisions come from ONSC — trial-level decisions where a judge heard the specific facts of a specific case and ruled. ONSC decisions aren't binding the way ONCA decisions are, but they're persuasive. If a dozen ONSC judges have consistently applied the SSAG in a certain way for a certain type of situation, that matters. This is also the court where both divorce and property division are handled, along with spousal support.
Most of the cases you'll find will be ONSC. This is the most useful pool for comparison.
Ontario Court of Justice ONCJ
ONCJ handles spousal support matters but doesn't have jurisdiction over divorce or property division. Its decisions are persuasive but not binding on ONSC. If your situation is straightforward support-only — no divorce petition, no property dispute — ONCJ decisions can be highly relevant. If you're in full divorce proceedings at ONSC, ONCA and other ONSC decisions carry more weight.
What You'll Actually See in a Decision
This is where people get intimidated. The decisions are long — sometimes 30, 40, 80 pages. The format looks official and dense. Here's what to look for and what to skip.
| Part of the Decision | What It Is | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Fact Pattern | Marriage length, incomes, children, what each spouse did during the marriage, date of separation | Read first. Does this case resemble yours? If not, move on. |
| Income Determination | How the judge calculated each spouse's income — especially useful if self-employment or imputed income is in play | Read carefully if income is in dispute. This shows exactly what documents judges weigh. |
| SSAG Application | How the judge applied the guidelines — why they landed at mid-range, low end, or outside the range entirely | Key section. The reasoning tells you what arguments move judges. |
| Procedural History | How the case got to this decision, prior orders, motions | Skip unless you're dealing with a variation or modification situation. |
| The Order | The actual ruling — monthly amount, duration, review dates, termination triggers | Read. This is the outcome you're trying to understand and predict. |
You don't need to read the whole decision. Scan the fact pattern, skim to the support analysis, read the order. That's the useful 20%.
The Honest Caveat
Reading CanLII cases will make you more informed. It won't make you a lawyer. The gotcha is that every case is unique. A judge who ordered low-end support in a case that looks like yours may have done so for reasons that aren't obvious on the surface — a credibility finding, an undisclosed asset, something in the testimony. Cases that look similar on paper can have wildly different outcomes for reasons you won't see in a 30-minute read. Use CanLII to understand the landscape. Use it to ask better questions. Use it to calibrate your expectations. Don't use it to represent yourself on a complex support dispute without legal help.
The Problem With Searching CanLII Directly
CanLII's search is powerful. It's also built for lawyers who know what they're looking for.
The interface expects you to construct search queries — things like "spousal support" AND "self-employed" AND "rule of 65" — using Boolean logic and proximity operators. If you search for "divorce support how long pay" in plain English, you'll get thousands of loosely relevant results and spend an hour picking through them.
There's also no built-in way to filter for Ontario-specific cases in specific courts, or to narrow to the last 10 years, without knowing how to set those parameters manually.
For most people, the raw CanLII interface is frustrating. Not because the data isn't there — it is — but because getting to the right cases requires knowing how to ask.
The Easier Way: Find Cases Like Mine
We built a tool specifically for this.
Find Cases Like Mine
Fill out a short form about your situation — relationship type, income issues, what specific support questions are in play, what property complications exist. It translates your answers into a properly constructed CanLII search and sends you directly to filtered Ontario results.
What it does behind the scenes: builds the correct Boolean search syntax, filters to Ontario courts only, limits to the last 10 years, and targets the specific legal terminology judges actually use.
Instead of landing on CanLII staring at a blank search box, you land on a page of actual Ontario decisions that match your situation. Takes about 60 seconds to fill out.
Search CanLII for Cases Like MineWhat Cases Are Worth Reading Once You Have Results
Once you have results, here's how to triage them:
- Court of Appeal decisions first. If an ONCA decision shows up matching your situation, read it. These set the rules everyone else follows.
- Recent over old. Sort by date. A 2024 ONSC decision reflects current judicial thinking and current SSAG application. A 2009 decision may reflect an older interpretation. Both can be useful, but recent is the starting point.
- Most-cited decisions. CanLII shows how many times each case has been cited by other courts. A decision cited 200 times is more influential than one cited twice. Rough but useful signal.
- Cases with similar income levels. The SSAG percentages produce different real-dollar amounts at different income levels, and judges calibrate within those ranges partly based on what similar-income households have been ordered. Match on income where you can.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CanLII?
CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute) is a free, public database of court decisions, legislation, and tribunal rulings from every province and territory in Canada. It's run as a non-profit by the Federation of Law Societies. No login, no law license, no credit card — genuinely free and open to anyone.
Is CanLII free to use?
Yes. Completely free. No subscription, no paywall, no account required. It was built specifically to make Canadian law accessible to the public, not just to lawyers.
Can I find Ontario spousal support cases on CanLII?
Yes. CanLII has thousands of Ontario family law decisions going back decades — rulings from the Court of Appeal, the Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Justice. You can search by keyword, issue type, income situation, or specific legal concept like the Rule of 65 or imputed income.
What courts does CanLII cover for Ontario family law?
Three courts matter: the Court of Appeal for Ontario (ONCA) — the highest level, binding precedent; the Superior Court of Justice (ONSC) — where most divorces and property cases are heard; and the Ontario Court of Justice (ONCJ) — spousal support without divorce or property division.
How do I search CanLII without a law degree?
Use Find Cases Like Mine. Fill out a short form about your situation and it builds a targeted CanLII search automatically — correct syntax, Ontario courts only, filtered to the last 10 years. You land directly on relevant results.
What will I actually see in a CanLII court decision?
The full written ruling — the judge's reasoning, the facts of the case, what each spouse earned, how long they were married, what support was ordered, and why. The useful parts: does the fact pattern resemble yours, how was the SSAG applied, what did the judge weight most heavily.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. CanLII content reflects court decisions as filed — always confirm with a lawyer how precedents apply to your specific circumstances.