How Do You Enforce Child and Spousal Support Payments in Ontario?

How Do You Enforce Child and Spousal Support Payments in Ontario?

If you’re like most separated or divorced spouses, you want to make sure you get your child or spousal support payments from your former spouse.

How can you ensure that you get your child or spousal support payments?

Hi, my name is Thomas O’Malley.  I’m an experienced family lawyer in Durham Region and the GTA.

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When your former spouse is required to pay child or spousal support pursuant to a family court order in Ontario, this court order is automatically filed with the Ontario Family Responsibility Office (called FRO for short).

FRO collects these support payments from the payor spouses and then pays these funds to the recipient spouses.

However, you need to know that FRO does not change the terms of your court order or separation agreement to increase or decrease the monthly child support or spousal support payments.

As you know, many spouses negotiate a separation agreement with their spouse.  You would put a paragraph in your separation agreement for the payment of a specific amount of child support and spousal support each month. 

Your separation agreement is not automatically filed with your local family court in Ontario.

In most cases, your former spouse will make the monthly child or spousal support payments to you.

However, if you run into any payment problems, you can always file a copy of your separation agreement with your local family court so that FRO can start enforcing the payment of child and spousal support based on the terms of your separation agreement.

Now FRO will actually end the payment of child or spousal support when you have a clause or paragraph dealing with that issue in your court order or separation agreement.  However, both former spouses must agree that the event that triggers the end of the payment of child support or spousal support has occurred.

If you and your former spouse do not agree that this triggering event has occurred, you would have to take this matter to family court to be resolved.

If you have any questions about your separation, divorce or family law case and you would like our help, feel free to contact me on my Facebook law office page, that’s O’Malley Family Law, or call me at 905-434-8837 and I’ll point in you in the right direction. 

Click here to join my free Facebook GTA and Durham Region separation and divorce support group: GTA and Durham Region Separation and Divorce Support GroupI

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