Guide
Short answer
To find assets for judgment enforcement in Canada, search land titles where owner-name search is available (BC, Alberta, Québec), PPSA registries for vehicles and equipment, corporate registries for entities the debtor controls, and writ registries to see which creditors already rank ahead of you. Bank accounts require a court order and cannot be searched.
5 of 6 steps below you can run yourself for nothing. 4 things in this area cannot be done lawfully by anyone.
The situation
You have a judgment. The debtor is ignoring it, claims they have nothing, or has gone quiet. You need to know whether there is anything worth enforcing against before you spend more on lawyers.
6 steps
In order of yield. Every step marked “do it yourself” is one you can run without us, with the cost stated where there is one.
Step 01
Before looking for assets, find out who else is already collecting. An Ontario writ of execution search costs about eleven dollars and tells you whether other creditors have judgments and priority. If three secured creditors and two writs rank ahead of you against a single mortgaged property, that changes your strategy immediately and cheaply.
Step 02
British Columbia's LTSA, Alberta's SPIN2, and Québec's registre foncier all support owner-name search. Ontario does not — its registry indexes by property, so Ontario holdings must be inferred from corporate registered offices, mortgage registrations, and litigation filings. This asymmetry is the single most important practical fact in Canadian judgment enforcement.
Step 03
PPSA registrations reveal vehicles, equipment, and general collateral, and identify secured creditors who rank ahead of you. An Ontario individual search requires the exact legal name and the date of birth. Note that a registration proves an asset probably exists but not how much equity is left in it.
Step 04
Debtors routinely hold assets through corporations. Search Corporations Canada plus each provincial registry for the debtor as a director or officer, then search property and PPSA against those entities. Québec's REQ is particularly valuable here because it publishes shareholders, which other registries generally do not.
Step 05
An Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy search costs about eight dollars and tells you whether the debt was discharged in a bankruptcy or proposal — in which case enforcement may be barred entirely, and further spending is wasted. Do this before, not after, an enforcement campaign.
Step 06
Bank accounts, income, and investment holdings are not public. Reaching them requires an examination of the judgment debtor, a Norwich order, or garnishment — all through your lawyer and the court. A registry search establishes what exists so you can target those court applications instead of firing blind.
Honest limits
Not a paywall and not a coverage gap. Each of these is either absent from every Canadian public record or unlawful to obtain — and anyone selling it to you is misrepresenting what they have, or committing an offence to get it.
Find their bank accounts
Not in any public registry. Reachable only via examination of the judgment debtor, a Norwich order, or garnishment through the court.
Find out their salary or employer
Employment and payroll records are not public. An examination of the judgment debtor is the lawful route to this.
Find their RRSPs or investments
Not public, and in most provinces RRSPs enjoy some execution protection anyway.
Search which properties they own in Ontario by name
Ontario's land registry has no owner-name index. Holdings must be inferred from other records.
Everything we decline at every tier, with the reason for each
Before you pay
If you do need it
This tier will not include
Questions
Search land titles by owner name where the province allows it, run a PPSA search for vehicles and equipment, search corporate registries for entities they control and then search assets against those entities, and run a writ search to identify creditors ranking ahead of you. Also check insolvency records, because a discharged bankruptcy may bar enforcement entirely.
Yes, with a judgment and a garnishment order — but you generally need to identify the bank and branch first, and that information is not public. The usual route is an examination of the judgment debtor, which compels them to disclose assets under oath, or a Norwich order against the financial institution. Your lawyer drives this; a records search tells you where to point it.
It varies by province — commonly six years in Ontario for a writ, renewable, with limitation periods in other provinces differing. Judgments can generally be renewed before expiry, and a debtor's acknowledgement or partial payment can reset the clock. Confirm the current period with your lawyer, since these provisions change.
Usually yes, because the alternative is spending far more on enforcement steps aimed at nothing. A few hundred dollars of searching frequently reveals either a realisable asset that justifies proceeding, or a discharged bankruptcy and three prior writs that tell you to stop. Both outcomes are worth the money.
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