Ontario legal information · Ottawa and Eastern Ontario
Priority is a coverage question, not a fault percentage.
The analysis can involve the claimant’s own policy, a spouse’s policy, a policy under which the person is a dependant, an occupied vehicle or an involved vehicle. The exact order depends on the statutory category.2
Insurers have a regulated process to dispute priority among themselves. The claimant should continue to provide required information and keep the full correspondence record.
Occupants and non-occupants follow different statutory paths.
Occupant
Confirm personal and household policies as well as the insurer of the occupied vehicle.
Pedestrian or cyclist
Confirm personal and household policies and the insurers of automobiles involved in the accident.
Insurer disagreement
Preserve the first application, transfer letters and every priority notice without starting competing informal files.
Build a policy-and-relationship table.
Record named insured, spouse, dependants and household details relevant to the statute.
List occupied and involved vehicles, owners, plates and uses.
Obtain insurer names, policy numbers, declarations and effective dates.
Keep every priority, transfer and coverage letter with proof of delivery.
Priority disputes have their own regulated timing.
Promptly give the best-supported insurer a complete application and respond accurately to reasonable coverage questions.3
Do not treat a transfer letter as a benefit denial without reading its actual effect. Benefit-entitlement and priority issues may need different responses.
How a personal injury lawyer may help with accident benefits.
A useful review should reduce the file to a defined benefit, disputed period, governing test and evidence problem—then explain the available response in plain language.
- Classify the claimant as occupant or non-occupant
- Verify statutory relationships and policy dates
- Distinguish insurer priority from liability fault
- Protect the benefit claim while insurers resolve allocation
Not every file requires every step or legal representation. The work should respond to the actual dispute, evidence gap or decision that is approaching.
Sources and legal references
These official sources provide the legal and procedural foundation for this page. Their current wording and the facts of the claim control.
View 3 sources
- Ontario — Insurance Act
Ontario’s statutory framework for automobile insurance, liability coverage and accident benefits.
Back to footnote ↑ - Ontario — Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule
The current regulation governing Ontario automobile accident benefits.
Back to footnote ↑ - Tribunals Ontario — LAT Automobile Accident Benefits Service
Official information, forms and procedure for accident-benefit disputes.
Back to footnote ↑