Settlement Conference/Offer to Settle

[chapter2]

I filed for an increase in child support. As per the guidelines in the child support table, he should be paying $247 more each month and is retroactive from May 2015.

Once filed and served, he fabricated a calendar which claims he has had the kids (2) more than 40% of the time in his response. He also is requesting first right of refusal (which I am fine with as I already ask him first) and wants joints custody - but only wants them on the weekend and doesn't want to do any parenting during the week.

Since October I have emailed him a 'recap' of the dates and times that he has picked the kids up as evidence that he does not have them even close to 40%. (We were ordered to use Our Family Wizard but he refuses.) He has them every other weekend only - his choice.

I have filed my settlement brief but want to send an offer to settle. I can't seem to find any court form that I can pull online to create one under 'Family Law in Ontario' other than the small claims court form. Anyone have any luck finding a form to use? Any advice on creating an offer to settle would be greatly appreciated! I would definitely encourage that he be more than a weekend dad and participate in the medical appointments, drop offs, pick ups, school events, sleep overs during the school week and would entertain a shared custody - but in his mind, that only means he takes them Friday-Sunday.

Thanks for your input!

[stripes]

My understating is that offers to settle don't have a specific format - they're basically a piece of paper with "offer to settle" written at the top, in which you lay out what you would like to see as an agreement between you and Dad.

I think that offers to settle are supposed to be forward-looking (i.e. don't rehash the problems with him being a fun-times daddy, just write out as clearly as possible what you would like to see as a future schedule).

I know that timelines around offers to settle can be fussy, so you may wish to check how far in advance of the SC you need to send your offer, so he has a chance to consider it and accept, reject or counter-offer, and make sure you send it by registered mail or courier so you get proof of delivery.

I also understand that offers to settle usually have an expiry date, e.g. "This offer expires at xxx o'clock on xxx date" - usually just before the SC is supposed to start.

However, I am not a lawyer and could be completely wrong.

[Janus]

I also understand that offers to settle usually have an expiry date, e.g. "This offer expires at xxx o'clock on xxx date" - usually just before the SC is supposed to start.

I thought it was just after the SC starts. And without setting an exact time, I think you can just write "expires one minute after the SC starts"

I am also not a lawyer, and can also be wrong

[Tayken]

I thought it was just after the SC starts. And without setting an exact time, I think you can just write "expires one minute after the SC starts"

I am also not a lawyer, and can also be wrong

You can define the time line. Most people extend offers to the first 5 minutes on a trial or motion on the issue.