The Quebec government identified bailiffs in the list of priority activities that could continue their operations.  Information on this subject can be found on the List of essential services and commercial activities.

Last update: May 11th, 2020

Québec’s Ministère de la Justice now authorizes bailiffs to serve pleadings by technological means (such as email, by example), rather than being personally served as is normally expected.

This temporary measure will be in effect until the end of the current health emergency period. 

In order to participate in the collective effort to minimize the spread of Covid-19, we privilege service by technological means. If there is an obstacle to this type of service, our bailiffs will proceed to serve documents to the recipient traditionnally.

For all the details, we refer you to Order 4267 of the Chief Justice of Québec and the Minister of Justice dated 27 March 2020 and to the Press Release regarding Temporary Measures Authorizing Notaries to Close Acts Remotely and Bailiffs to Serve Pleadings by Technological Means.  

Last update: May 26th, 2020

The health and safety of our customers, our team and the people with whom we are called to come into contact are at the heart of our concerns. Beyond the carrying out of the new method of service by technological means and the use of the Digital Court Office of Québec when appropriate, we ensure that our bailiffs and team members are made aware of the health and safety measures implemented by the organization in order to minimize the risks associated to COVID-19 and provide them with the necessary equipment to allow the application of the standards in force during in-person services.

Last update: June 18th, 2020

The Quebec justice system is embarking on a major technological shift and we are excited to be a part of it. The innovation brought forth by the Digital Court Office of Québec is aligned with our vision of using digital technology to enrich our service offer.

Trust our expertise

For several months, daily practice has seen changes at unprecedented speed. At Paquette, we closely monitor the evolution of the methods of operation of the court offices of the various Courts and tribunals of Quebec. We make sure we have up-to-date knowledge that allows us to offer you a fast, efficient and inexpensive court services. Prepare your procedure and let us take care of the rest!

And enjoy an end-to-end service!

Once your procedure has been created and your instructions have been sent to Paquette, you can move onto other matters and free yourself from the tasks related to the issuance and production of the procedure. By calling upon our team, you benefit from an end-to-end service which will allow you, from a single request, to have:

• your procedure issued or filed at the digital or physical court office, as best fits the situation;
• your procedure stamped with a cash advance;
• your procedure served to the designated persons and
• your service reports filed with the Court.

Do you want to follow the progress regarding the treatment of your request? Use the Paquette Web platform which will allow you not only to communicate your requests, but also to follow the progress of your file and consult your reports.Do you want to follow the progress regarding the treatment of your request? Use the Paquette Web platform which will allow you not only to communicate your requests, but also to follow the progress of your file and view your reports.

Last update: June 18th, 2020

Any document whether it is considered urgent or not.

Last update: April 7th, 2020

We will serve the document at the email address provided to us by our client.

We refer you to the first paragraph of section 133 of the Code of Civil Procedure which provides that: “Notification by a technological means is made by sending the document to the address provided by the addressee for the receipt of the document, or to the address that is publicly known as the address where the addressee receives documents, provided the address is active at the time of sending.”

Last update: April 7th, 2020

Yes. Order No. 4267 provides that “a party not represented by a lawyer or a notary may not unreasonably refuse to receive a document by a technological means”.

Last update: April 7th, 2020

Paquette Web allows you to securely send us PDF documents to be served. 

We now allow urgent mandate requests using this platform during work hours.  If you need to make an urgent request outside of office hours, please call our emercengy service at 514-284-1007.

Last update: June 18th, 2020

As of May 26th, we invite you to contact through our regular methods, as follows:

• Use the Paquette Web platform, which allows you to make a request, attach documents in PDF format (30MB max per file) as needed and view your reports and invoices in one place. It is simple and efficient. Do not have an account yet? Create one quickly.

• Communicate with us by using the contact details of your customer service officer.  Considering that we are still in the gradual reinstating of our services, you might be forwarded to another customer service officer, but be assured that we will continue to provide you with a direct line of communication regarding your requests.

Last update: June 18th, 2020

We charge a 23$ fee per service as provided for in the Tariff of fees of court bailiffs.  Management fees of 8$ per file are also applicable.

Last update: April 7th, 2020

You will receive a report of service by technological means within a reasonable time following service by technological means. These minutes will comply with sections 119 and 134 paragraph 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Last update: April 7th, 2020

As of June 15th, 2020, it is now possible to “send court offices certain pleadings and their accompanying documents (forms, proof of notification, etc.) for civil, youth, criminal and penal matters online” at the office of the Superior Court and the Court of Quebec. As a member of the Quebec legal community, we are enthusiastic about participating in this technological shift.

However, this method is not compulsory and cannot be used for certain documents and to file in certain courts and administrative tribunals.

Furthermore, following requests made through the Digital Court Office during the first week of its availability, we have observed that, for the moment, the time taken to issue a procedure seems to be around 48 hours. For this reason, we recommend filing it at the physical registry, in cases where there is an emergency.

We therefore continue to move to the registries and invite you to continue to send us your procedures through our secure platform Paquette Web.

By calling upon us with our secure Paquette Web platform, you benefit from an end-to-end service which will allow you, from a single request, to have:

• your procedure issued or filed at the digital or physical court office, as best fits the situation;
• your procedure stamped with a cash advance;
• your procedure served to the designated persons and
• your service reports filed with the Court.

For filing and issuing procedures at the physical court offices, the situation is evolving day by day and varies from one judicial district to the next.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will advise you if there should be a specific problem concerning the issue of a procedure that you have transmitted to us. If you have any questions, contact us using the contact information for your customer service officer.

Last update: June 18th, 2020

The Digital Court Office of Québec was launched on June 15, 2020. As of June 18, we cannot provide you with an official response regarding this question.

However, when filing procedures in the first few days of activity, we observed that the processing time seemed to be around 48 hours. For this reason, we recommend to our clients that we continue filing with the court offices in the courthouse, in urgent matters and in cases which are excluded from filing digitally according to the conditions of use (e.g. “an application for judicial authorization” or “an application for authorization to institute a class action).

Last update: June 18th, 2020

As of June 15th, 2020, it is now possible to “send court offices certain pleadings and their accompanying documents (forms, proof of notification, etc.) for civil, youth, criminal and penal matters online” at the office of the Superior Court and the Court of Quebec. As a member of the Quebec legal community, we are enthusiastic about participating in this technological shift.

However, this method is not compulsory and cannot be used for certain documents and to file in certain courts and administrative tribunals.  We therefore continue to go to the court offices.

By calling upon us with our secure Paquette Web platform, you benefit from an end-to-end service which will allow you, from a single request, to have:

• your procedure issued or filed at the digital or physical court office, as best fits the situation;
• your procedure stamped with a cash advance;
• your procedure served to the designated persons and
• your service reports filed with the Court.

For filing and issuing procedures at the physical court offices, the situation is evolving day by day and varies from one judicial district to the next.

We are monitoring the situation closely and will advise you if there should be a specific problem concerning the issue of a procedure that you have transmitted to us. If you have any questions, contact us using the contact information for your customer service officer.

Last update: June 18th, 2020

Last update: June 1st, 2020

Urgent judicial activities are mentioned here.

We also refer you to the various press releases issued by the courts considering that the concept of urgency may vary from one court to another as well as from one district to the next.

For example, the Superior Court (district of Montreal) issued a press release on June 26th in which it replaced the list of urgent and priority matters in civil and family matters with the following [Translation]:

• Injuction request
• Seizure before judgment
• Seizure release order, seizure before judgment annulment or contestation of eviction
• Issue execution notices (eviction) following a court decision, excluding the effect of any judgment suspended by ministerial decree number 2020-005 concerning housing and residential buildings
• Safeguard order
• Any request considered urgent or a priority by the Commercial Chamber in matters which are heard before it, whether as part of a reorganization, an arrangement, a proposal, a bankruptcy or otherwise
• Request for child care and food and other requests concerning children
• Request for alimony for spouses
• Request for divorce and legal separation including requests concerning custody, access rights, alimony and other questions concerning the parties or their property
• Request for authorization to care (s. 16 C.C.Q.)
• Habeas Corpus
• Request regarding rights or the integrity of the person (eg: s. 2167.1 C.C.Q.)
• Priority request under the law
• Any other matter deemed urgent or a priority by the chief judge or the judge designated by him requiring the immediate intervention of the court in order to ensure the protection of persons, rights and property.

Last update: June 29th, 2020

Order 2020-4251 of the Chief Justice of Québec and the Minister of Justice dated 15 March 2020 provides that “extinctive prescription and terms for forfeiture in civil matters are suspended until the expiry of the period of the declaration of public health emergency […]. Similarly, procedural periods in civil matters are suspended during the same period, with the exception of cases deemed urgent by the courts.”  

To learn more about renewals of the public health emergency, you can refer to the section Measures adopted by Orders in Council and Ministerial Orders of the government page dedicated to the Situation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Québec. 

According to a July 13th press release, “[t]he Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Quebec, Mr. Simon Jolin-Barrette, and the Chief Justice of Quebec, Ms. Manon Savard, announce the lifting of the suspension of procedural periods in civil and criminal matters next September 1^st.  Furthermore, in civil matters, the deadlines for readiness linked to a case protocol in effect on March 15^th 2020 will be extended by 45 days starting September 1^st. [Translation]”

As regards the Régie du logement, it is important to note that according to their website consulted on May 11^th “the time limits for bringing a recourse before the Régie du logement are not suspended, in particular with regard to repossession of a dwelling, application for revocation and application for a review.”

Regarding procedural periods in civil matters, it should be noted that at the registry offices of the Montreal courthouse, an information note* is posted. It includes a table regarding types of suspensions originating from Order 2020-4251:

• Types of suspended procedural periods in civil matters:
  • “Deadline for civil proceedings, except in cases deemed urgent by the court [Translation]”
  • “Deadline which relates to judicial independence when it concerns a period of civil procedure [Translation]” (example: Means of inadmissibility and correction of the situation – s. 168)
•  Types of periods or delays, which are not suspended:
  • “Prevenient or presentation periods [Translation]”
  • “Imposition of an obligation rather than a procedural period [Translation]” (example: Notification of a judgment)
  • “Is not a procedural deadline or represents a duration [Translation]” (example: Duration of the provisional injunction)

*Justice Québec, Direction du soutien juridique aux services de justice, Note d’information : Suspension des délais de procédure civile, en date du 26 mai 2020, consulted at the court offices of the Montreal courthouse on June 10th 2020.

Last update: July 13th, 2020

In accordance with the Ministerial Order 2020-050 by the Minister of Health and Social Services dated 7 July  2020,we can now plan evictions relating to any judgment or decision of the Régie du logement rendered before March 1, 2020. 

For decisions or judgments rendered since March 1, 2020, “[t]he effects of any judgment by a tribunal or any decision by the Régie du logement authorizing the repossession of a dwelling or the eviction of the lessee of a dwelling are suspended, as are the effects of any judgment or any decision ordering the eviction of the lessee or occupant of a dwelling, unless the lessor rented the dwelling again before the coming into effect of this Ministerial Order and the suspension would prevent the new lessee from taking possession of the premises. Despite the foregoing, the tribunal or the Régie du logement may, when exceptional circumstances justify doing so, order the enforcement of one of its judgments or one of its decisions, as the case may be“, in accordance with Order 2020-005 of March 17, 2020.

We therefore invite you to communicate with us, as soon as possible, if you wish to plan the execution of a Regie du logement decision in your favor.

Last update: July 7th, 2020

We can accept execution mandates, while respecting the time limits when applicable. Give us instructions for execution and we will evaluate the most suitable method in order to comply with the currently applicable hygiene standards and the various directives, guidelines and restrictions in force.

As regards decisions rendered by the Régie du logement, in accordance with the Ministerial Order 2020-050 by the Minister of Health and Social Services dated 7 July  2020, we can now plan evictions relating to any judgment or decision of the Régie du logement rendered before March 1, 2020. 

For decisions or judgments rendered since March 1, 2020, “[t]he effects of any judgment by a tribunal or any decision by the Régie du logement authorizing the repossession of a dwelling or the eviction of the lessee of a dwelling are suspended, as are the effects of any judgment or any decision ordering the eviction of the lessee or occupant of a dwelling, unless the lessor rented the dwelling again before the coming into effect of this Ministerial Order and the suspension would prevent the new lessee from taking possession of the premises. Despite the foregoing, the tribunal or the Régie du logement may, when exceptional circumstances justify doing so, order the enforcement of one of its judgments or one of its decisions, as the case may be“, in accordance with Order 2020-005 of March 17, 2020.

Please note that it is possible that we might be unable to proceed to an execution if it does not respect the rules, regulations and standards in force.

Last update: July 7th, 2020