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How does child support enforcement in Ontario compare?
Niren and Associates previously blogged about a new law (which came into effect on December 1st) that makes it possible for the cars of support payors who fall behind on their child support in Ontario to be impounded, which would in turn prevent the support payor from getting to work and making money to meet his or her monthly support obligations. This new enforcement method may appear to be counter-productive, but those who fail to pay child support in Ontario may not be the worst off.
In Australia, parents who fell behind on their child support payments will not be traveling for the holidays. According to Australian officials, those parents will be turned away at airports on the premise that if they have the money to travel, they should be able to make support payments. A similar rule went into effect in the country last year, and resulted in $3.3 million (Australian dollars) being paid right away.
Child support in Ontario vs. the United States
The state of Oklahoma recently arrested their “most wanted” person who has failed to pay child support – $63,000 over 11 years. Like the provinces of Ontario and Alberta, Oklahoma has an online public database of people who fail to pay child support that includes photos and biographical information and this database helped provide authorities with the location of this man. In Ohio, authorities have begun creating posters with information and photos of those who don’t pay child support, and these posters have even been posted on pizza boxes. What’s unique about these posters is that the amounts owed are right below the photos.
Sometimes, losing a job or a receiving reduction in pay can result in a change to your child support obligation. If you are having problems paying your child support in Ontario, speak to a family lawyer.
Filed in Child Support, Family Law Changes Ontario, Family Responsibility Office, Support Orders •
Wife to sue Ontario Family Responsibility Office for suicide of man who couldn’t pay child support
New Ontario child support enforcement is a Catch-22
The Government of Ontario has taken new steps to enforcing child support payments, namely the most recent: driver’s licenses can be suspended for not paying child support, and cars can now be impounded – removing the ability for payers to get to work at all to earn the money to make payments.
In late August, a London, Ontario man committed suicide by laying down on nearby train tracks. His common-law wife is planning on launching a lawsuit against the Ontario Family Responsibility Office, whom she holds responsible for his death.
The man’s ex-wife and mother of his two now-adult children (ages 18 and 21) owns a home, a car, and has a job, and the man had been paying child support since 1996. A truck driver, the man had recently become unemployed and missed two support payments, which began a downward spiral of events that prevented him from ever catching up.
License suspended for not paying child support
Work soon became available, but the man’s commercial license was suspended by the Ontario Family Responsibility Office, who demanded a $1,500 payment to reinstate the license. Without a license, he could not earn the money to get his license back and no negotiating with the Family Responsibility Office got him anywhere – not even when it was done on his behalf by an MPP or an ombudsman.
Eventually, he represented himself when the Family Responsibility Office took him to court and demanded $10,000 or almost 200 days in jail – both options that would severely impede his ability to get his license back and continue making child support payments – all for $4,000 in child support payments.
Facing child support payment problems in Ontario?
The Ontario Family Law system is notoriously slow to recognize changes in income for child support-paying parents. Now that the stakes are even higher and a missed payment can result in loss of income, consult a family lawyer to discuss your child support options.
Filed in Child Support, Enforcement, Family Law Changes Ontario, Family Responsibility Office, Motion to Change, Support Orders, Variation •
Ontario Chief Justice expands on family law comments
Earlier this fall, Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler said that the Ontario Family Law system was desperately in need of an overhaul, and suggested that mediation become mandatory in divorce disputes before couples head to court.
In recent interview with Law Times magazine, Winkler expanded on these comments, saying that the main reason family law overhaul is so desperately needed is that family law rulings seriously affect the lives of whole families and mistakes can ruin lives, denying parents access to children and creating detrimental repercussions to family relationships.
He said that education and awareness on the family law process is necessary for couples to be successful during mediation, and that those involved need to desire a positive outcome for all parties or it won’t be successful as a solution.
The family court system is extremely strained, and wait times are already too long for heated divorce cases that really need to court system to be processed.
He added, “when we introduced mandatory mediation as part of the civil justice reform, it reduced the waiting time to trial by two-thirds. I’m confident it will reduce the inventory of family law cases and free up judges for trials and I’m sure it will be in the best interests of the parties by making the system better, cheaper and quicker.”
Other provinces are making progress in family law changes, with Alberta recently attempting to change the definition of parent in family law cases to allow for easier custody resolutions with parents who used assisted reproduction methods, and British Columbia attempting to change its family law system to catch up with modern times. However, no province has officially proposed a major family law system reform with regards to how cases go through the court system.
Filed in Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation •
Family law needs to play catch-up with modern life
British Columbia’s proposed family law reforms are centered on the non-nuclear family and related issues of separation and child born with the use of surrogacy and sperm donors. Many legal issues are on the rise as the use of surrogacy increases in various family situations.
In a recent case highlighted in the Globe and Mail, a couple who had paid a surrogate to carry their child had found out that embryonic genetic testing had revealed the child was likely to have down syndrome, leading to their request for the surrogate to abort the pregnancy. The couple had a thorough legal agreement with the surrogate, and if the surrogate refused to terminate the pregnancy then she would be responsible for raising the child.
However, a University of Calgary professor told the Globe and Mail that Canadian courts would not be likely to honour the agreement, as the court would lean towards the child’s biological parents to raise the child as being better for the child than an unrelated stranger. In this case, the surrogate ended up having an abortion for family reasons.
The case raises the question of whether the child is being treated like a product, and if the parents can effectively “return” that product if they do not want it anymore. In parts of the United States, parents who use a surrogate can sue to get their money back if the surrogate continues with the pregnancy even if they no longer want to. In other cases, couples have gotten divorced before the baby was born and the surrogate ended up as the custodial parent.
Surrogacy is on the rise in Canada and the provincial, or perhaps federal, government will have to enact legislation to govern this issue to protect the rights of those involved in this modern-day family.
Filed in Artificial insemination, Family Law Changes Ontario, Provincial legislation, Surrogacy, child custody •
Parliament is back in session: What does this mean for family law?
Canadian Members of Parliament returned to the House of Commons this last week Monday as Parliament resumes for the fall.
CBC News held a poll on their website asking Canadians what the most important issues to them were from a selection of pre-determined categories like the federal long-gun registry, healthcare, Afghan detainee transfers and the mandatory long-form census. Surprisingly, family law reform was not on the list but many of the 2500 Canadians who responded wrote it in themselves saying it should be a top priority.
Family law reform has yet to be touched upon as Parliament has focused on taxes, prisons, the census and the purchasing of $16 billion worth of fighter jets since returning.
Canadian family law reform as a whole is a slow process because it’s unfortunately not a top priority. For example, Bill C-422 is among the top 100 private member’s bills currently after undergoing its first reading over a year ago. This bill deals with mandating equal shared parenting unless it’s not in the best interests of the child, to promote the fact that children benefit from relationships with both their parents and to eliminate parental alienation, amending the Canadian Divorce Act in a very positive way. However, a bill in this position with little attention and support will likely not be debated until next fall. Members of the public can contact their MPs and let them know that this issue is important to them to garner extra support.
A recent review by Ontario’s Law Reform Commission that interviewed social workers, family lawyers, judges and mediators suggested family law reform should definitely be a top priority, and a recent comment by Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler also pointed out that creating a mandatory mediation process before family cases go to court would save families unnecessary financial hardship and emotional stress.
Filed in Child Custody in Ontario, Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation, child custody •
Could lessons in Ontario family law before marriage mean less divorce?
A group from the Law Commission of Ontario is suggesting providing engaged couples with lessons in Ontario family law to prevent eventual breakdowns in married relationships in their latest report.
The group has consulted with various family law professionals and determined that the majority of divorced couples wish they knew more about the family law process before they had gotten married.
Julie Lassonde, a research lawyer with the law commission, told the Winnipeg Free Press this week that, “They need more information about what the consequences are of living with someone, what am I getting into if I get married, what are my legal obligations?” She said, “These are all kind of taboo topics, no one wants to talk about the law when they’re in love but it would avoid, we believe, a lot of difficulties at breakdown.”
The group’s report states that offering information sessions before marriage and childbirth may help couples through the integration of family-building and marriage information into high school sexual education classes “to introduce some broad concepts, some ideas, so young people are better equipped to build relationships that make sense to them.”
Filed in Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario •
Ontario Chief Justice Calls For Mandatory Family Law Mediation
Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler recently gave a speech to headline the official opening of Ontario courts for the year, and used it as an opportunity to call for more changes to Ontario’s family law system.
Justice Winkler said that making it mandatory for cases to go through mediation before heading to family court would be a big step in having less expensive and faster resolutions to complicated divorce disagreements like custody battles, as well as make it easer to obtain information such as the financial records of a spouse.
“Accordingly, only in the event that the alternative dispute resolution process is unsuccessful would access to the costly, time-consuming, adversarial and sometimes acrimonious court process be available to litigants,” he said in his speech.
Winkler also said he doubted that improvements could be made through adjusting Ontario’s family law system, and that a complete overhaul that included his proposed rule was necessary.
Such a proposal would filter out cases that take up a lot of the court’s time by having them resolved out of court beforehand, freeing up court resources for difficult cases that must go through the court process.
This type of resolution has become mandatory in many areas of the world. According to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph, only about five per cent of family law-related cases end up in court because alternative dispute resolution is mandatory in Australia.
Filed in Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation •
Ontario man running for family law changes
Dave Nash is running across Canada to increase awareness of the current issues within the family law system. Nash spent four years trying to resolve a custody dispute with his ex-wife in order to get shared custody of his son, and the people along his route that give him food, water or a place to stay have revealed similar experiences.
The Cross Canada Run for the Children will end in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, after beginning in Victoria, British Columbia – a distance of almost 7,300 kilometers to support the reform of Canadian family law and Bill C422.
Bill C422 is a private members bill that supports equal shared parenting in child custody disagreements, and the Bill had its first reading in parliament on June 16th, 2009. If passed, equal shared parenting between both parents would be the normal, or default situation assigned by the court in order to allow the children an equal relationship with both parents unless there is a safety concern. Also, the Bill would make it mandatory for parents to attend mediation prior to proceeding through the court system as a last resort to protect children from lengthy custody battles.
If Nash, from Guelph, completes his run before September 1st, he will have broken the World Record for the Fastest Crossing of Canada on Foot. He chose to break the Guinness World Record of 72 days to cross Canada on foot, because a non-custodial parent will typically spend on average 72 days per year with their child or children.
Filed in Child Custody in Ontario, Child Visitation, Divorce, Family Law Changes Ontario, Mediation •
Ontario Family Law Reform Pilot Projects Underway
In January,we blogged about the pending changes that were announced with regards to reforms of several different family law procedures in Ontario, expected to commence in March.
The goal of the proposed reform was to reduce time spent in courts and ensure that children are better protected, typically by providing more available information to families regarding court-alternatives like mediation or collaborative family law as well as ensuring anyone applying for the custody of a child was given an appropriate background check.
“Test sites” were to be set up on two courts in the province, Milton and Brampton. Those services are now underway as of last week in an attempt to reduce the combativeness an emotional tones of some family law disagreements. The courts were to be providing families with information on their rights, responsibilities, steps to take and the overall effects the divorce may be having on children.
A press release from the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General said that these courts are providing families with more access to information and the alternatives to court, like collaborative family law and mediation. Once these test projects are well underway, the information will be used to create similar initiatives across the province of Ontario.
“These improvements will help families resolve difficult issues faster and with less emotional stress when their relationships break down,” said Attorney General Chris Bentley.
Filed in Family Law Changes Ontario • Tags: Attorney General Chris Bentley
In Family law in Ontario Financial Disclosure is Key
Personal financial information is a private matter that most people guard carefully. On occasion one may release it for the purposes of applying for credit or for taxes. In the case of family law, it’s one of the most important components when it comes to spousal and child support.
Many family law disputes are the result of some kind of financial issue – from income statements for child and spousal support to the proper division of assets.
These financial statements, as well as many other statements, are expected to be sworn statements. The statements can include things like tax assessments, tax returns, statements of earnings and other income forms depending on whether the person in question is employed or is the owner of a business.
These statements are extremely important because they’re used to determine things such as spousal and child support amounts, as well as the lengths of time they’ll be paid for.
If the financial statements are not accurate or provided, there are a slew of consequences. These consequences can include hefty fines if the financial statements are inaccurate or not forthcoming by a certain date, being forced to cover the fees of the other ex-spouse during the proceedings, or one can even be held in contempt.
A family lawyer can help you make sure all of your financial statements are accurate and in order so that any family law proceedings go as smoothly as possible.
Filed in Divorce Lawyer, Family Law Changes Ontario • Tags: financial statements