Ex lied to Judge in our divorce

[lilvidda]

Going back to court September 14th to have my case reopened. I was divorced in 2003 my ex said he would have an income based on $52,000.00 a year and child support was set at $762.00 a month for 2 children and our case would be reassessed in five years.

Now we are in 2009 I have just found out that my ex made $96,000.00 gross in 2003 and it has increased to $161,000.00 gross in 2006 he is self employed, his business is not incorporated. The judge ordered him at the time to show income tax returns yearly but he never complied. My lawyer all along told me to wait until 5 years are up for reassessment of arrears in support which would have been August 2008. I went to my lawyer and she did nothing to change the situation, I have now retained a new lawyer .

My daughter had to drop out of her 2nd year of college because support obligation was not being met and I didn't have the money for her to continue with schooling. She wants to go back to college this fall and has been living at home since she left college in January 2008.

My question is can a judge reopen my divorce from 2003 regarding support payments based on fraudulent income from my ex? He is in the area of $96,000.00 owing in back child support.

[standing on the sidelines]

What did he show as a financial statement to the judge? The gross income is that his actual or the money the business made?


I take it this is for chld support? If it is for SS then remember if you open that can of worms it may not go in your favour.

how do you know how much he is making if he never complied with showing the tax returns?? Does he get paid by salary?

I am thinking that if what you say is true then you can bring him before the judge for not complying with the order to show yearly income tax returns. He has an obligation to support his kids. Maybe he could pay for the daughters schooling directly to the school instead of paying CS to you. Sometimes when there is a problem the NCP likes to cut out the middleman and deal directly with the child/adult and work out something with them in regards to college etc. Have your daughter talk to him and maybe they can agree on something.

[Mess]

Self employed here.

You can't go by gross income.

If he is self employed and for example owns a shop, his gross income is the gross receipts of the shop. But he pays rent, insurance, utilities, and buys stock for sale on his shelves. His NET GROSS after expenses could easily be less than half than his gross income.

The information given here doesn't indicate in any way that your EX lied, or that he did anything wrong in his disclosure. Maybe you are choosing your words incorrectly and you mean net gross, but I don't know how you would know this? Even if you have heresay from some relative or part-time employee, that doesn't mean it's accurate.

Whatever form of self-employment he has, he has expenses that are legitamate and recognized by Canada Revenue and by Family Law. He has to do his taxes, in 99% of cases he will have his taxes done by an accountant who will check over his receipts and sign off on the end result.

When you went through divorce court he had to do a financial disclosure and provide his tax return and this was also signed off by his lawyer.

I'm not naive, and of course there is lot's of room for funny business. But you had better have some strong evidence to provide, and if this is so, your EX is in trouble for a lot more than some support arrears.

(edit to add..) As to your lawyer saying to wait and do 5 years at once, that is probably decent advice for 9 out of 10 cases. Do you really want to pay the legal fees to reopen everything every year for an incremental increase?

If your EX is smart, decent and fair he should either be increasing the support payments on his own each year incrementally, or setting the money aside knowing he will have to catch up in 5 years. Your settlement should have spelt out how you would handle this, no one expects to make the same amount of money exactly forever, it will go up or down, especially if you are self employed.

I'm not sure what happened with your lawyer "not doing anything". You expected to have updated financial discosure and updated support payments after 5 years, this should have been a straightforward request. I'm guessing your lawyer sent him a request letter, the letter was ignored and the lawyer didn't follow up immediately? It's hard to say what a reasonable length of time is, I often suffer weeks waiting for a response from my ex's lawyer, and then weeks more because my lawyer needs to schedule a meeting to follow up, etc. It's not a quick process even if you have a decent lawyer.

[representingself]

From what I understand about the law, you, as the recipient, have a duty to seek out the payor and request financial disclosure each year. I know he is supposed to hand it over, but in the event that he doesn't, it becomes your responsibility.

If you made such a request, and it was ignored, you stand to make a fairly decent argument for retroactive support, (you are not to "blame" for the delay).

That being said, if you waited too long to act, (ie. unreasonable delay) in making such request, and in seeking the courts assistance, you might get shot down.

They do it this way so that receipent can't wait 10 years and then go back and hammer the payor for thousands of dollars.

Also, if the payor was aware of his obligation and increased income, and he deliberately refused to provide you with disclosure he may be ordered to pay the retroactive amount. (He has to have "reasonable belief" that his support obligations were being met).

By making such a drastic increase in income and not reporting it, he doesn't have that "reasonable belief".

There are tons of case law examples out there that you can review and compare to your situation. Just google "Retroactive Support & Province".

Regardless of how you obtained these new income numbers, you will have to wait until he provides his income tax returns, notice of assessments etc. to determine his income. (If that is how you got the numbers you have now, then you just might get the amount you are seeking).

In a case like yours, there are alot of factors to consider, which is why, if your ex refuses your request, you may have to push this to a trial to get the money. I am sure you already know, Lawyers are expensive and Trials can break the bank

IF you can prove that the payor was negligent, and you win your case, he might have to pay your costs. But that is never guaranteed.

Try to negotiate, then mediate and finally litigate but only if absolutely necessary.

Good Luck

[lilvidda]

I have requested financial disclosure at least 12 times and 8 times in writting he just never complied. Soon after our divorce he told my daughters that he made $120,000.00 that year. In our divorce the judge went by his pay stub from 2002 to calculate child support and spousal support was to be $1,000.00 but I only requested $850.00. Needless to say he didn't pay spousal or child support for 4 months after the divorce and his licence was suspended.

Then I had a renter move in to help cover costs my ex took me to court to have spousal support stopped my lawyer at the time requested full financial disclosure but he didn't comply even then, spousal support was terminated.

He now wants money that he paid for my older daughter back because she had to drop out of college because he didn't pay and I had no more money for her.

[lilvidda]

To Mess

He has lied and still lies why would he tell his daughter that he makes $120,000.00 a year and then in next breath say I only make $52,000.00. His company pays $26.75 in rent a month and maintenance fees are paid to him cleaning, management fees, painting etc are ALL paid to him. Actually his lawyer now sent me a copy of all his deposits into his bank account and he has over a quarter millon in it but then turns around and says he has no money to help put my daughter through college.

My ex is not a nice, decent and he is very unfair. No one but I mean no one has seen a legitimate income tax return I mean with assesments from revenue canada, and even now I only have up to the year 2006.

I have asked to see income tax returns and assesments since January 2004 no one has listened to me.

[lilvidda]

To standing on the sidelines

My daughter has asked her father for help but he says that he has no money but then the next month he's off to Mexico with his girlfriend.

The judge has never seen his financial statement and he now says that he was always up to date with child support, I have a copy from FRO showing he still owes money since May 2005 and has always been in arears with payment.

How I think his payment works is that he gets a lump sum amount of money and has to pay himself and 2 part time employees with it.

I know I had terrible legal representation after the divorce (my first lawyer during the divorce quit working, pregnant).

[allay]

Feed him to FRO at the same time have the judge order a release direct from CRA. If the money is there you will get it.

A

[lilvidda]

I have been telling FRO and everyone that would listen to my situation but nothing has been done that is why I want a judge to see exactly what has been happening right from the start. I am a very fair person but when it affects my kids and schooling that is something very wrong for a parent to do.

[allay]

Then you must have a copy of his tax return it would have been filed with the court papers. If he can pay he should and yes he should consider the children. Seems there might be a little thing going back and forth using your daughter. Some time you have to take the higher road. There is no special rules for anyone so he must be in compliance or FRO would act. If you ask FRO what they are doing to get the money they have to answer you it is part of their mandate. Fighting is a waste of time you just have to move on and work with what you have. In the end the none custodial parent always loses.
A

[lilvidda]

MUST having a tax return is one thing but actually getting it is something else even my lawyer's request didn't get it. He he doesn't and never has considered the children just the fact that my daughter had to drop out of college because he wouldn't cough up his portion and then going to Mexico is nuts. FRO did act by taking his licence away and by fining him for non payment.
I have always taken the high road by starting out in the begining when my spousal support should have been $1,000.00 but only asking for $850.00 and paying most of my daughter's first year in college, he still owes me medical expenses for the girls from 2006. My yearly income is not even close to what he makes and we have lived without MANY things just to make ends meet, thank God I have family that I can borrow money from to pay bills.

[Stargate]

Going back to court September 14th to have my case reopened. I was divorced in 2003 my ex said he would have an income based on $52,000.00 a year and child support was set at $762.00 a month for 2 children and our case would be reassessed in five years.

Now we are in 2009 I have just found out that my ex made $96,000.00 gross in 2003 and it has increased to $161,000.00 gross in 2006 he is self employed, his business is not incorporated. The judge ordered him at the time to show income tax returns yearly but he never complied. My lawyer all along told me to wait until 5 years are up for reassessment of arrears in support which would have been August 2008. I went to my lawyer and she did nothing to change the situation, I have now retained a new lawyer .

My daughter had to drop out of her 2nd year of college because support obligation was not being met and I didn't have the money for her to continue with schooling. She wants to go back to college this fall and has been living at home since she left college in January 2008.

My question is can a judge reopen my divorce from 2003 regarding support payments based on fraudulent income from my ex? He is in the area of $96,000.00 owing in back child support.

Simple answer is YES, he's on the hook.

[lilvidda]

My big question to everyone is...
Would a judge reopen my divorce from the begining because of this new information regarding financial issues and the contempt of a court order also the information that I have posted here???

[Stargate]

My big question to everyone is...
Would a judge reopen my divorce from the begining because of this new information regarding financial issues and the contempt of a court order also the information that I have posted here???

Yes, but you'd have to file a Motion with the Court along with an Affidavit and supporting evidence.

[lilvidda]

The supporting evidence would be his income tax, assessments and financial statements. This will all show the money that he has been hiding to everyone, CRA, lawyers, me and the judge. Also the time he received this money and what he spent it on. I know that the truth will always come out that is why I have never lied or tried to deceive anyone.