Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Charity Lawyer

Charity and Not-for-Profit Law are very niche areas of law.

In fact, there are only a handful of lawyers across Canada who are experts in these two areas of law.

The first thing to do when searching for a Charity or Not-for-Profit lawyer is to look for experience and practice focus.

At a Glance: Questions, Stakes, and Red-Flag Answers

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Questions to Ask a Charity Lawyer Before You Hire Them

1. Will you first assess whether registering as a charity is the right structure — or whether we should remain a non-profit organization (NPO)?

Not every mission-driven organization should become a registered charity. Many operate successfully as an NPO under Income Tax Act s. 149(1)(l), which exempts qualifying non-profits from income tax without requiring them to meet CRA's charitable-purpose test, issue official donation receipts, or file the more detailed annual return required of registered charities. A registered charity, by contrast, is defined and regulated under ITA s. 149.1(1) and must meet the criteria in CRA's Guidance CG-017, General Requirements for Charitable Registration — confirmed as current and unreplaced guidance as of this article's last update. A lawyer who skips straight to drafting a charity application without asking why you want charitable status specifically may be optimizing for a sale, not for your organization's actual needs.

2. Does your firm guarantee charity registration?

No charity lawyer can ethically guarantee that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will approve an application — the CRA makes the final decision, not the lawyer. Be cautious of anyone who promises a guaranteed outcome. What a good lawyer can do is significantly reduce the risk of delay or refusal by making sure your purposes, activities, and governing documents meet CRA's standards before the application is ever submitted. 

3. How many years of experience do you have specifically in charity and not-for-profit law?

General corporate or business lawyers occasionally take on a charity registration as a one-off file. Charity law is technical enough — particularly around what CRA considers a valid charitable purpose — that years of focused, ongoing experience in this specific area matters more than general legal experience.

4. Approximately how many charity applications have you processed?

This is different from years in practice. A lawyer could have practiced charity law for a decade but only handled a handful of applications. Ask for an approximate volume, and ideally examples in your specific sub-sector — for example faith-based organizations or employment and training programs. 

5. Is your fee flat-rate or hourly, and what exactly does it include?

Get this in writing before engaging anyone. Ask specifically whether the quoted fee includes:

• All government registration fees and HST
• Correspondence with the CRA, including follow-up requests for more information
• Drafting or revising governing documents (articles, bylaws)
• The full process through to final registration — or only the initial application submission

6. What happens if CRA asks for revisions or the application is rejected?

It's common for CRA to come back with questions or request that an applicant amend its purposes before approving registration, as part of its application review process.  Ask whether responding to these requests is covered under the original fee, or billed separately. This is one of the most frequently overlooked questions, and one of the most expensive to get wrong.

7. Do you also handle governance documents and ONCA/CNCA compliance, or only the registration filing?

Some lawyers handle only the CRA application itself. Others also draft or review the governing documents (which CRA reviews as part of the application) and advise on incorporation under Ontario's ONCA — the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, the provincial statute governing how non-profits incorporate and operate in Ontario — or the federal CNCA, the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, which serves the same role for organizations incorporating federally. If your organization needs both, confirm the lawyer can do both — or ask who they'd refer you to for the piece they don't handle.

8. Will you support ongoing compliance after registration, like annual filings?

Registration is the beginning of a charity's compliance obligations, not the end. Ask whether the lawyer (or their firm) also assists with annual return filings — the T3010, the yearly information return every registered charity must file with CRA — governance changes, or amendments to charitable purposes down the road, or whether that's a separate engagement.

Red Flags to Watch For When Hiring a Charity Lawyer

• Guarantees CRA approval or a specific timeline
• Can't clearly explain what's included in a flat fee
• Has limited or no charity-law-specific experience
• Is vague about who handles CRA follow-up correspondence
• Can't provide examples of similar organizations they've registered
• Offers a generic, templated application without asking detailed questions about your specific programs and activities
• Won't put fee structure or scope of work in writing

Why Charity Applications Get Delayed or Rejected

The old version of this page cited an unsourced "50% rejection rate," which isn't an accurate picture of how CRA actually processes applications. According to CRA's most recent Report on the Charities Program (2024–2025), registration approval was the most common outcome — about 82% of applications for charitable registration were approved, while formal denial accounted for less than 1% of outcomes. The remaining share didn't make it through mainly for administrative reasons: incomplete information, abandoned applications, or withdrawals.

Among applications that do run into trouble, CRA's own reporting points to a consistent set of underlying issues:

• Insufficient detail about planned activities to show they further a charitable purpose
• Purposes or activities that are non-charitable in nature
• The organization acting as a conduit — passing funds through to a non-qualified donee without exercising its own direction and control
• Lack of direction and control over resources used by an intermediary or third party
• Private benefit — activities that primarily benefit specific individuals rather than the public

CRA has also been modernizing its processes through 2026 — the Charities Directorate's fax line was discontinued as of April 1, 2026, and CRA is pushing charities toward online filing ahead of a planned shift to fully online T3010 filing by 2027. A lawyer who stays current on these procedural changes can help you avoid avoidable delays.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to hire a charity lawyer in Canada? 

Many charity lawyers offer a flat fee for registration rather than billing hourly, though the exact amount depends on the complexity of your organization's purposes and structure. Always ask for a written quote specifying exactly what's included.

How long does charity registration take in Canada? 

Processing times vary and change periodically — CRA publishes current estimated processing times through its online processing-times tool. Ask your lawyer for a realistic estimate based on your specific application type.

Do I need a lawyer to register a charity in Canada? 

It's not a legal requirement, but because CRA applies a technical standard to what qualifies as a charitable purpose, many applicants use a lawyer to reduce the risk of delays or rejection.

What's the difference between a charity lawyer and a charity accountant? 

A charity lawyer handles legal structure, the registration application, governing documents, and CRA correspondence. A charity accountant handles bookkeeping, financial statements, and annual return preparation. Many organizations need both at different stages.

Can a charity lawyer help if our application was already rejected? 

Yes — many charity lawyers regularly handle resubmissions and respond to CRA requests for additional information on applications that were previously incomplete or denied.

How do I verify a charity lawyer's standing before hiring them?

Every practicing lawyer in Ontario must be licensed by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO). You can confirm a lawyer's license status, licensing history, and whether any disciplinary action is on record using the LSO's public Lawyer and Paralegal Directory. This takes a few minutes and is the single most concrete verification step available before signing a retainer.

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