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Ontario Court of Appeal: CS arrears offset against unpaid costs order

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  • Ontario Court of Appeal: CS arrears offset against unpaid costs order

    Decision is called CC v JJ (2017). Mom had declared bankruptcy after costs order then made no payments which were ordered by the bankruptcy court. There were CS arrears to be paid by dad. OCA confirmed that the two can be offset, reducing the arrears.

  • #2
    here is the CanLii link for the case:

    https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/do...ocompletePos=3

    Comment


    • #3
      Some Costs Payments Enforceable by FRO: Ontario Court of Appeal Decision

      In this Ontario Court of Appeal decision, and other OCA decisions cited therein, that court states that a trial judge can designate costs awards as support payments and that they therefore can be enforced by the FRO. In this particular case, the parent who is to pay the costs had a well established history of defying orders, including costs orders.

      https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/do...4onca175.html?

      The OCA states in their decision that trial judges have a lot of discretion when it comes to stating that costs orders are to be treated as support and are therefore enforceable by the FRO.

      This means that the costs are enforced by the state bureaucracy and that the costs award would survive a declaration of bankruptcy.

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      • #4
        In my situation in Alberta, I was awarded costs and they were Ordered to be non-taxable and enforced by MEP. My ex had declared bankruptcy.

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        • #5
          The reason I originally posted the above case is because it points to the importance of asking for a reserved decision on costs at every step of a case- at every conference.

          If the other party has a lawyer they need to be explaining to their client how and why costs can be ordered and how costs can now be enforced.

          Even if the other side is posturing as destitute (can't be bothered to get a job), if they act unreasonably and the court sees through the claims of destitution and costs are ordered, the costs can in the end be recovered through an offset against child support arrears. This seems like it could be wielded as a lever toward reasonableness.

          In conjunction with costs orders being enforceable by FRO, this could be helpful.

          Comment

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