Cheque images - expensive, will the court assist?

[Aelon]

I have made all of my child support payments by cheque. The good news: there's a record of child support payments. The bad news: my bank wants me to pay $25 per cheque image older than a year. I didn't realize that, otherwise I would've been printing the cheque images on a regular basis.

My ex is filing a child support claim against me, but the filing doesn't specifically say what the problem is.

- If I end up having to pay hundreds of dollars to the bank to get these cheque images, am I likely to get any compensation for that if my ex tries to claim that I haven't paid what I have actually paid?

- Can the judge order the bank to provide those images without me bearing the cost?

[Mess]

A judge cannot make an order against anyone who is not a party to the case. Unless you are suing the bank, the judge cannot make an order against the bank.

I would first speak with a senior manager at the bank - not one of the junior ones, they will just give you a canned response. Explain your situation and ask if they could waive the fee in this instance. Be humble, not indignant.

If you cannot get the fee waived, then my second suggestion would be to provide the copies you have, along with bank statements going back the required dates. So you have 12 cheques for a certain amount, and then several years of statements showing that same amount each month. Any reasonable person would accept this as proof of payment.

If you ex is not a reasonable person, then you may claim the banking fees in your costs submission if you win that aspect of your case.

[DowntroddenDad]

With online banking I can get images of any cheque I've written since I signed up for the same price, I think its a dollar a cheque. Is that an option?

[sahibjee]

With online banking I can get images of any cheque I've written since I signed up for the same price, I think its a dollar a cheque. Is that an option?

not for the ones older than one year, i went through it as well and ended up paying the fee because CRA needed the cheques images too