Lawyer not responding

[atlanticcanadian]

My ex's lawyer will not respond. My lawyer said should be "tidied up" by the day on what I consider a very simple variation order. I don't think it is my ex's lawyer. I think it is my ex. My ex's lawyer has always been very professional and respectful.

I have no Order. Maintenance Enforcement tells me to call my lawyer for an update which I am now trying to avoid considering it cost me $300.00 to call to ask for an update. I can't afford it.

I am so frustrated. It has been two months for a simple variation order in which I asked for less than what he wanted it lowered to.

I don't know if my ex quit or got deliberately fired again though. I don't mind a suspension if my ex would just communicate through his lawyer.

Hopefully this makes sense because I am so stressed.

[OrleansLawyer]

It could be beneficial to consider including instructions to your lawyer to provide firm dates in correspondence. Something along the lines of, "please respond by X date or else Y", with Y often being "we file at court and obtain X along with costs".

[atlanticcanadian]

Does the lawyer have to respond

Does my ex's lawyer have to respond in a timely fashion with the Order.

I just feel that my ex is continuing to be abusive but it is financial.

[Teenwolf]

Does my ex's lawyer have to respond in a timely fashion with the Order.

I just feel that my ex is continuing to be abusive but it is financial.

The lawyer has to abide by court ordered deadlines, but I don't believe s/he has to respect deadlines from you or your lawyer. With this said, it's a measure of good faith and bargaining to actually make the effort to work together. If he is ignoring your requests, that's not a good sign.

I don't know if my ex quit or got deliberately fired again though. I don't mind a suspension if my ex would just communicate through his lawyer.

Are you referring to suspension of CS? If so, why in the world would you do that? If he's acting in bad faith and getting fired or quitting is job, then I don't believe it's a good idea to condone his behavior by relieving him of CS obligations. You said "deliberately fired again", so a pattern of behavior is possibly developing. IMO, if he wants to quit his job or get deliberately fired, and not pay CS, then he can apply to the court to suspend his CS and he explain to a judge why he was fired or quit. I wouldn't make it easy for him.

[atlanticcanadian]

Thank you Teen Wolf

It is Spousal Support - now a nominal monetary amount. I returned to work (albeit casual).

The main issue is marital assets he disposed of before divorce. My ex doesn't want to equalize even though both of us contribute to them.

[Teenwolf]

Oops...my bad; however, I would take the same approach for SS and I wouldn't voluntarily agree to suspend it, based on the circumstances in your situation. It would be a different story if he was legitimately laid off.

[atlanticcanadian]

I already agreed to suspension for lay-offs. I keep negotiating in good faith just to be shafted around. It is so frustrating.

[Teenwolf]

How convenient for him; in an attempt to be reasonable and act in good faith, you agree to a lay-off clause. Now, he plays the system and gets laid off regularly. Let me guess...he quits his job and his employer generously puts lay-off on the ROE?

[atlanticcanadian]

Don't know yet

His lawyer won't respond. I have been waiting for a new Order for two weeks.

He was paying at a real low amount and now has stopped paying. Maintenance Enforcements tells me to contact my lawyer which is expensive and I have ran out of money so the lawyer is probably going to bail.

The head games of my ex are unreal.

[Teenwolf]

Why don't you have an order? What happened to the other one? If it's a simple and straight forward variation, then perhaps a lawyer isn't necessary.

[atlanticcanadian]

Suspension

Long story short:

He applied for a variation suspending until he found employment. When he found employment he applied to reduce, wanted to go to Court.

I applied to reduce for less than what he want considering I was working a contract. I will be laid off next Friday.

He agreed verbally through his lawyer but his LAWYER is suppose to do the Order. I have been waiting for the Order for two weeks and nothing.

He was paying to show what a nice guy he was, albeit it a lower amount. Now he has stopped and no one has heard anything from his lawyer.

To say I am stressed is a mild understatement.

[Old Lawyer]

Sorry, but I do not follow this discussion at all. If the (ex) husband is not paying support and has no order requiring him to pay support, I do not see why he would be rushing to tell his lawyer to respond to create a new order requiring him to pay.

I gather he works off and on.

Where a payor works off and on I have never found it makes sense to have support payable only when the payor works. Rather support should be based on the last years total income or a typical years income. Grant it it might not get paid when he is not working but when he starts working again more should be collected by the enforcement agency. In Ontario they will collect up to 50% of the pay to catch up. Having it at a higher rate when working and not payable when not working just doesn't seem to work.

But if there is no current order, then it seems obvious to me that the recipient has to start a proceeding to obtain a new order. While I don't like to encourage people to act on their own, if the problem is the cost of a lawyer it might make sense to start it on one's own.

Expecting an ex husband who clearly doesn't want to pay support and clearly could care less if his ex spouse has a steady income to suddenly wake up in the morning and say, I must get my lawyer to call her lawyer to put an order in place----- strikes me as naive to the point of being a little nuts.

And his lawyer is working for him. He is not working for the wife's lawyer or the wife or the public interest and therefore does not have an obligation to pressure his client into dealing with the situation.

Besides if the guy isn't working he has probably not paid his legal bill either and his lawyer needs to work for clients who can pay so he can keep the lights on in his office and pay the office assistant.

On the other hand I do not think it overly likely that the payor is getting himself laid off on purpose to avoid spousal support. Granted this is possible but it is cutting off his nose to spite his face. I have acted for a great many men who were one of a hundred laid off on a day and the wife insists that he engineered the lay off to avoid paying support. Hardly likely.

But while I don't think a lot of men purposely have their plants close down to avoid support they don't either go out of their way to settle their support cases.

Everyone has to deal with the realities of human nature.

[atlanticcanadian]

My lawyer said his lawyer was doing up the Order. Great I guess I was just scammed by lawyers.

[arabian]

Old Lawyer - think what she is saying is that she's waiting for the OC to do up the order. This doesn't seem out of line to me as I thought it's pretty standard for the party who initiates the action to do the order.

I just said that in 3 lines. You took how many lines to express what? Lawyers... geesh!

[Teenwolf]

He applied for a variation suspending until he found employment. When he found employment he applied to reduce, wanted to go to Court.

Perhaps I don't have the full story, but this is my take.

Your previous order still exists. His previous variation to suspend did just that: suspend the order; it didn't disappear off the face of the earth. He now has a job, so the order should be back in play.

If he makes less money now, then he can ask the court to reduce SS, but he should continue to pay his SS until ordered otherwise by a judge, or agreed by you.