Family Responsibility Office process

[djyk2020]

Hello,

Payor has not paid child support since March 2020 and has cut off all contact with the kids and myself. I went through the courts and got the final court order for retro & current child support. I filed the court order with FRO and have a case number and this was done back in May 2021.

I'm pretty sure payor will avoid talking to FRO since he didn't even participate in the court process. So what is FRO's process to get the payor's attention if they avoid FRO's calls? Do they actively try and track down the payor?

I left a voice message on their main line and a message through my case file through FRO online but never received any response. I'm sure they are busy due to Covid but I wanted to get an idea of what they can/will do so that I have the right level of expectation.

The last activity I saw on my file was that a federal support deduction notice was put in place in July 2021.

So I'm not sure what happens next now.

[rockscan]

Do you know where he works? Give them that info. Where he lives? That too. They will send him notices and also contact his employer to garnish his pay. The federal order means his income taxes will be garnished.

Having a file with FRo does not mean you get paid. It means they will do what they can to garnish his wages if hes employed and files taxes. If he works for cash then there is nothing anyone can do.

[djyk2020]

@rockscan thanks for your reply. Since there is no response or any activity, I wasn't sure what to expect or if this meant that they've done all they can and that's it. I wasn't sure if FRO does actively try to find payors or not.

[Stillbreathing]

FRO are extremely slow to respond. I found it helpful to contact the Ontario Ombudsman and file a complaint. Once I did, FRO quickly responded and we got the issues resolved. The Ombudsman are wonderful and will take you seriously. They will also go after FRO with a vengeance and make them do their job.
I haven’t had any issues with FRO since.

[djyk2020]

@stillbreathing thank you for that information. I didn't know the Ombudsman could step in. I'll give FRO a bit more time to respond to me as I am sure they are back-logged and then I'll try the Ombudsman. Thanks again!

[djyk2020]

Oh, I have another question. Is there a way for me to find out the payor's address if I have his driver's license number or plate number? I just found out payor moved in with his sister but I don't know her address but I would think payor updated his health card & driver's license information. Or if I let FRO know he's moved, can they search it up?

[rockscan]

FRO would be able to get that info. You can’t from a privacy perspective. They will also suspend his license if he gets into more than $3000 in arrears. They will send him notification at the address on file.

[Selfrepmom]

FRO would be able to get that info. You can�t from a privacy perspective. They will also suspend his license if he gets into more than $3000 in arrears. They will send him notification at the address on file.

Don’t get your hopes up on the drivers license suspension. Mine has racked up over $11,000 in unpaid child support over the past 2 years and all FRO has done is a federal deduction order. They won’t suspend his license because it’s COVID and that might be hard on him (insert extreme sarcasm)

Side note: Does anyone know the repercussions an employer may face for not following a support deduction order?

[rockscan]

I think you can take them to small claims court. There was a case ahead of me at my SCC six years ago. They were ordered to comply.