The federal government’s criminal interest rate amendments come into effect on January 1, 2025. The criminal interest rate is lowered from a 60% effective annual rate (EAR) to a 35% annual percentage rate (APR).

Enhanced the Retainer Instructions - Purchase Of Real Estate.

Effective December 1, 2024, the Rules of Civil Procedure impose new requirements on factums and expert reports.

The title of Master is replaced with the title Associate Judge.

On June 16, 2025, Ontario Regulation 50/25 introduced several important amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure.

From February 1, 2025, all businesses registered in the Ontario Business Registry need a company key to file annual returns, update their business information in the registry, or conduct transactions through the Ontario Business Registry self-serve portal.

The Rules of Civil Procedure have been amended to allow for the filing of probate documents by email and estate litigation documents and estate applications or motions electronically. The publications have been updated outlining the procedures involved in the filing of documents with the Superior Court of Justice electronically.

From June 1, 2024, lawyers must file general filing and claims documents for Family Law actions through the King’s Bench Family and Divorce Filing Digital Service. Publications have been updated to reflect this new mandate.

As part of the continual updates and enhancements that take place across all our guides, we have revised and updated the Real Estate guides.

Changes to the speculation and vacancy tax and a new BC flipping tax are effective from 1 January 2025. Read more...

A new guide, Electronic Signing and Remote Witnessing , has been added to the Reference Materials folder on all By Lawyers matter plans. Electronic signing and remote witnessing are available for many, but not all, transactions and documents encountered by lawyers in everyday practice. The new guide summarises the legislative and practical considerations under federal and provincial legislation in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, helping lawyers understand when electronic signing and remote witnessing are permitted and how they can be done.

The commentary and precedents have been updated surrounding client details, verification of identity and source of funds to take into account the new Law Society requirements for authentication of client identity documents and monitoring of source of fund information.

As part of the continual updates and enhancements that take place across all our guides, we have revised and updated the Real Estate guides.

An increase to the capital gains inclusion rate applies to capital gains and losses from June 25, 2024. For corporations and trusts, the rate is increased from one-half to two-thirds. For individuals, the inclusion rate is one-half of the first $250,000 and two-thirds of the remaining capital gain or loss. The By Lawyers publications have been updated to reflect these changes.

As part of the continual updates and enhancements that take place across all our guides, we have revised and updated the Real Estate guides.