Fro

[wretchedotis]

I have resisted my ex's wishes for FRO to enforce my CS obligation by simply forwarding her the monies in spite of the fact I am supposed to remit them to FRO.

Recently, I have been told that these monies may still very well be considered owing by FRO - regardless of the fact the are paid.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

[standing on the sidelines]

Why not just go through FRO?

To me if the money is suppose to go through them but you are bypassing them, then how are they suppose to know that you paid? All they can go by is the court ordered amount of CS and how much has been paid into their office. So, yes in their eyes you are in arrears.

[firhill]

IIRC.... Even when payor and recipient agree the amount paid "in person" is correct and forward that info to FRO, FRO will tack on $100 to the balance owing just for the "inconvenience" of it all.

[Exquizique]

I have resisted my ex's wishes for FRO to enforce my CS obligation by simply forwarding her the monies in spite of the fact I am supposed to remit them to FRO.

What do you mean by "supposed to"? Is it actually stated in writing in a court order/agreement that the amounts will be enforced by FRO? Or is it just an understanding between the two of you? If it's in an order, I'm surprised that FRO hasn't already contacted you to set up some kind of payment schedule?

[DowntroddenDad]

FRO does take months to contact the payer after being informed. That was the case with me. And they will not accept that you pay outside, unless you both sign a notice to withdraw from FRO. In my case, I told them I had paid her all monies owed up to the point when they contacted me, and they called her to confirm.

[limer]

My court order stated something to the effect that cs shall be paid to the applicant, but didn't initially specify FRO. The clause continued indicating if cs wasn't paid then FRO shall administer the CS. Any monies that you give to your ex for child support should be stated such as on the memo portion of a cheque. Your ex could send in a statement of arrears to the FRO. Your question to yourself would be will she deduct all that you have given her or will she claim ignorance.

If the FRO does contact you, it will be initiated by your ex for arrears. If it's stated specifically on a court order then the courts will submit a Support Deduction Order (second order to judges endorsement) that they will forward to the FRO.

[dad2bandm]

I have resisted my ex's wishes for FRO to enforce my CS obligation by simply forwarding her the monies in spite of the fact I am supposed to remit them to FRO.

Recently, I have been told that these monies may still very well be considered owing by FRO - regardless of the fact the are paid.

I assume you have a "court order", correct? Did you *both* agree to withdraw from FRO? It sounds like, not. So a court order is automatically registered with FRO, unless you both agree to withdraw.

You are in arrears then, according to FRO. You should call them, as soon as possible, to check this.

I think, if you can provide them receipts showing that you paid the ex, up until now, they will likely correct their info, but you need to go through FRO directly.

FYI, I ran into this myself.
Ex and I withdrew from FRO, but a couple of months later, I got an "arrears" notice from them. Ex's lawyer was the one, who was submitting the withdrawal form, that our side already signed off on. For some "mysterious" reason, he never filed it. Ex would not help out on that front to check on why. I had to get my lawyer, to contact her lawyer, who eventually forwarded the form back to my lawyer, for me to "submit" myself. I followed the advice of my lawyer to trust them with this. Should have trusted my gut.

[dad2bandm]

In my case, I only had to show 2 or 3 months of my "payment receipts" to the ex, to show I was not in arrears, and they corrected their system, and I was withdrawing anyway (with my signed form in hand).

[wretchedotis]

We have an Order, and about 4 months ago I received inittial contact from them.

I have since moved, and have not heard anything further.

I continue to pay CS directly to my ex. I just figured I would wait and let it sort itself out when they contacted me again. I supposed that wouldn't be too big of a deal as she received the monies anyway.

However, if it likely to be a head-ache - I'm thinking I will seek FRO and just start paying them directly. Seems like somehow it becomes my homework to do when everything was just fine in the first place.

That last sentiment, and more - is why I have resisted the idea.

Unfortunately both parties are required to withdraw. Just myself trying to do so (even with a perfect history of payment) is insufficient.

Because, you know, those of us that DO pay - we need yet another form of government control directing us.

[Exquizique]

If you've already received initial contact from them, then it's best to get back in touch with them and arrange for payment (since it looks like withdrawal won't be possible in your case). Like others have mentioned, "arrears" will have started to be accumulated in FRO's eyes until it's up to date with them. It WILL be a big headache if you keep paying your ex and she refuses to acknowledge that she's been receiving payment from you all along when FRO asks - this has happened to many payors.