Privacy Policy

Effective date: June 6, 2026 · Version 1.0

This Privacy Policy explains how SteadCase collects, uses, discloses, and protects your personal information. It is structured around the ten Fair Information Principles in Schedule 1 of Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). SteadCase is an organization and educational tool only — it is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

1. Who we are

SteadCase (“SteadCase”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is a platform operated by STEADCASE INC., a federally incorporated Canadian company based in Ontario. SteadCase helps self-represented litigants and others organize and prepare materials for Ontario family law matters, mediation, lawyer consultations, conferences, and court preparation.

For privacy questions or requests, contact our Privacy Officer:

  • Privacy Officer — SteadCase (STEADCASE INC.)
  • Email: hello@steadcase.ca
  • Website: steadcase.com

2. Scope of this policy

This policy applies to all personal information we collect, use, or disclose in connection with the SteadCase application and related services (the “Platform”), for all users including self-represented litigants and any legal professionals they choose to involve. It does not apply to third-party websites or services that may be linked from the Platform; we are not responsible for their privacy practices.

3. Application of PIPEDA

SteadCase is subject to PIPEDA in connection with the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information in the course of commercial activities, and is committed to complying with its ten Fair Information Principles. Your case data is stored in the cloud on our behalf by our infrastructure provider and is isolated to your account using per-user, row-level security (see Principle 7 — Safeguards).

4. Information we collect

4.1 Information you provide. The Platform lets you enter and store information that may constitute personal information under PIPEDA, including:

  • Account information: your email address, a password (stored only in hashed form by our authentication provider — we never see it), and an optional display name.
  • Identifying information about you and other parties (names, dates of birth, home and service addresses, contact details you choose to enter).
  • Court file numbers, courthouse details, court dates, deadlines, and proceeding details.
  • Incident and event logs, a daily journal, parenting disputes and positions, and your private notes.
  • Parenting issues and best-interests-style organizing labels you select.
  • Evidence details and links — titles, types, sources, dates, storage locations, and links you paste (e.g., to your own cloud drive). At this stage SteadCase stores these details and links, not the underlying files themselves; this may change in future and this policy will be updated accordingly.
  • Information about children involved in a matter, entered by you as an adult user.
  • Feedback you send through the app (your message, the page it came from, and your account email).

4.2 Information collected automatically. If you purchase a paid plan, payment is processed by our third-party payment provider; we do not collect or store your full card details. We use essential cookies needed to keep you securely signed in, and a privacy-friendly, cookieless website analytics service (Vercel Web Analytics) that measures aggregate traffic without cookies or personal identifiers. Separately, with your consent, we use Google Analytics for more detailed usage insight; if you decline, no Google Analytics cookies are set, and you can change your choice anytime via “Cookie settings” in the footer. Standard web server logs (IP address, browser type, timestamps) may be captured for security and operational purposes and are not linked to your case content. We do not use third-party advertising trackers.

4.3 Sensitive information. You may enter highly sensitive information, including information about children, allegations of family violence, medical or mental health information, and financial information. We treat all such information with heightened care and do not use or disclose it for any purpose other than operating the Platform as described here.

5. Accountability (Principle 1)

STEADCASE INC. is accountable for the personal information under its control and has designated a Privacy Officer (reachable at hello@steadcase.ca) responsible for compliance with this policy and PIPEDA. We require third-party service providers who may process personal information on our behalf to maintain appropriate privacy and security standards by contract.

6. Identifying purposes (Principle 2)

We collect and use personal information only for these identified purposes:

  • To provide, operate, and secure your private case workspace.
  • To help you organize, document, and prepare materials for Ontario family law matters.
  • To authenticate you and keep your account safe.
  • To process plan requests and purchases.
  • To respond to your support requests and feedback, and send essential service messages.
  • To improve and maintain the Platform, including debugging and quality assurance.
  • To comply with applicable legal obligations.

We will identify the purpose for any new use before or at the time of collection.

7. Consent (Principle 3)

We obtain meaningful consent for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. By creating an account and entering information, you consent to the practices described in this policy. Where you enter information about third parties (such as the other party, children, or witnesses), it is your responsibility to ensure you have an appropriate legal basis or consent to do so. You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual limits, by deleting your data or closing your account; doing so may mean we can no longer provide some or all of the Platform.

8. Limiting collection (Principle 4)

We limit collection to what is necessary for the purposes above, by fair and lawful means. You are not required to enter any particular information — the level of detail is entirely up to you based on your needs.

9. Limiting use, disclosure, and retention (Principle 5)

We do not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with your consent or as required by law.

9.1 No sale of personal information. We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to third parties under any circumstances.

9.2 Permitted disclosures. We may disclose personal information only:

  • To service providers who help us operate the Platform, under contractual privacy protections (see Principle 7).
  • To comply with a subpoena, court order, or other legal obligation.
  • To protect the rights, property, or safety of SteadCase, our users, or the public, where permitted or required by law.
  • In connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, provided the acquiring party agrees to honour this policy.

9.3 Retention. We keep personal information only as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the service or meet legal requirements. When you delete your data or close your account, we remove it from our active systems within 30 days; residual copies may persist in backups for a limited time before being overwritten.

10. Accuracy (Principle 6)

We endeavour to keep personal information as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as necessary for its purposes. You are responsible for the accuracy of information you enter and can update it directly in the Platform, or contact us at hello@steadcase.ca to request a correction.

11. Safeguards (Principle 7)

We protect personal information with safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity, given the nature of family-court information. These include:

  • Per-user data isolation enforced by row-level security, so you can access only your own records.
  • Encryption of data in transit.
  • Restricted and logged staff access, used for operating the service or providing support.
  • Reliance on established infrastructure providers under contractual security obligations.
  • No third-party advertising or tracking technologies embedded in the Platform.

You are responsible for the security of the device you use to access the Platform. We recommend using a password-protected device, signing out when finished, exporting periodic backups, and keeping your browser and operating system up to date. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Openness (Principle 8)

We make information about our privacy practices readily available. This policy is published at steadcase.com and is accessible within the Platform. We will notify users of material changes by posting an updated version with a new effective date and, where appropriate, through the Platform or by direct communication.

13. Individual access (Principle 9)

On written request, we will inform you of the existence, use, and disclosure of your personal information and give you access to it, normally within 30 days. You can also view your data in the app and export a full backup at any time. Where we must refuse access in whole or in part — for example, where information is subject to solicitor-client privilege, would reveal confidential commercial information, could threaten another person’s safety, relates to a legal proceeding with disclosure restrictions, or where disclosure is otherwise prohibited by law — we will explain the reason in writing and advise of any recourse. Send access requests to hello@steadcase.ca.

14. Challenging compliance (Principle 10)

You may direct any complaint about our compliance with PIPEDA or this policy to our Privacy Officer at hello@steadcase.ca. We will investigate and respond in a timely way. If a complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada:

  • Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
  • 30 Victoria Street, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 1H3
  • Toll-free: 1-800-282-1376
  • Website: www.priv.gc.ca

15. Where your information is stored & international transfers

Our service providers may store and process your information on servers located in Canada and the United States. As a result, your information may be transferred to, and subject to the laws of, a country other than your own, and may be accessible to courts, law enforcement, or authorities in those jurisdictions. We use the following service providers (sub-processors), each under its own security and privacy terms:

  • Supabase — database hosting and authentication.
  • Vercel — website and application hosting, and cookieless web analytics.
  • Resend — transactional and account email.
  • Google Workspace — business email.
  • Google Analytics — website-usage analytics, loaded only with your consent.
  • Stripe — payment processing.

16. Information about children and other people

The Platform is intended for adults (18+) and legal professionals and is not directed at children as end users. Because family law matters involve children, information about children is frequently entered by adult users. We treat such information with the highest degree of sensitivity and never use or disclose it for marketing or any purpose unrelated to operating the Platform. You are responsible for ensuring you have an appropriate basis to provide information about children and other individuals.

17. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date above indicates when it was last revised. Where changes are material, we will provide prominent notice through the Platform or by direct communication to registered users.

18. Governing law

This policy is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, and any dispute is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario.

19. Contact us

For any question, concern, or request about this policy or our privacy practices, contact the Privacy Officer at hello@steadcase.ca.

This policy reflects SteadCase’s current data practices to the best of our knowledge and is written to satisfy PIPEDA’s Fair Information Principles. It is provided for transparency, does not constitute legal advice, and should be reviewed by qualified privacy counsel before being relied upon — particularly regarding any applicable provincial privacy legislation and cross-border data transfers.