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Child Support - To Stop Or Not?

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  • Child Support - To Stop Or Not?

    In a nutshell...
    • The payor of CS lost his job in October and immediately started a motion for a reduction in CS with the family court system.
    • While we wait to go to court, FRO automatically withdraws the CS amounts based on the payor's last salary (before he lost his job) for the months of November and December.
    • The CS recipient does not provide a response to the request for a reduction within the 30-day allotment. The payor puts forth a motion for an order to be made with only the materials provided by the payor. The court refuses to take action and grants the recipient an extension to respond until the court date.
    • In court, the CS recipient's lawyer refuses to grant a temporary reduction in CS and refuses to address the issue until a new court date in March (as his client, the CS recipient, did not show in court).
    • Duty counsel at the legal aid clinic suggest that the payor completely drain the account from which CS is being withdrawn, so that FRO cannot take any more money that the payor doesn't have or cannot afford. After all, how can you pay when you don't have any income?
    So what do we do? Do we follow duty counsel's advice and just stop paying? Or do we continue to take loans in order to continue paying the current amount in hopes to receive compensation in the future?

    Our fears:
    • If we stop paying, it will look unfavourable on the payor and he will most likely have to back-pay in the future.
    • If we stop paying, FRO will never again allow for direct withdrawls and will attempt to garnish the payor's income from its source, something that the payor is against due to his line of work and the new job he has begun (100% commissions).
    • If we continue paying, we may not be granted compensation for the months we've paid using loan money, as the court must just view it as "since you paid, then you were able to pay."
    Any thoughts? Advice?

  • #2
    If you stop paying, you lose the direct withdrawal option. You have to decide which is more important to you.

    Let's say you drain the account to stop the withdrawals. He has an income, so can pay something. Make the correct payments based on his income through online banking. When there is enough there to meet the current required payment, FRO will send her a cheque.

    If you don't want to lose the withdrawal option, then keep making the full payments. If you're borrowing money to make the payments, make sure you keep records of those loans.

    Comment


    • #3
      I think once this is addressed in court an order will be issued and you should ensure that the affective date is from when the payer lost his job.
      That way once the order is received by FRO, and if they took money from you, they will be obligated to recalculate what was owed minus what was taken, and set your account with a balance owing you not the recipient. And there will be a few months of no CS to catch up to the amount you already paid in advance.

      Note, that if the courts date the order to the termination date, FRO cannot fault you and deny future auto withdrawals since the error was not yours.

      Personally I would only pay relative to actual income if on EI.
      Or only depositing into the account the amount that is relative to your income for FRO to take. SO once you get to court you can show that you maintained CS payments relative to your income despite the order given the time delay to bring the issue back to court for reduction. Then ask that the arrears be adjusted to show a no balance owing or a credit if FRO took money they were not entitled to.


      The affective date is very important on the next order.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by FL_Needs_To_Change View Post
        I think once this is addressed in court an order will be issued and you should ensure that the affective date is from when the payer lost his job. That way once the order is received by FRO, and if they took money from you, they will be obligated to recalculate what was owed minus what was taken, and set your account with a balance owing you not the recipient. And there will be a few months of no CS to catch up to the amount you already paid in advance.
        I think this is the route we are going to take. We understand that the child needs money to be supported, and don't want to provide nothing at all. That is why the effective date we suggested is the month after my fiance lost his job, and not the month he retain another job. This way, it shows that we are kind enough to not let a month go by without any payment.

        Originally posted by FL_Needs_To_Change View Post
        Note, that if the courts date the order to the termination date, FRO cannot fault you and deny future auto withdrawals since the error was not yours.
        I really hope this is true. But from the information we received from FRO, if we cannot make payments as per the order that FRO has on file, then we will not be allowed to use the automatic withdrawal option again. We don't want to risk it.

        Originally posted by FL_Needs_To_Change View Post
        Personally I would only pay relative to actual income if on EI. Or only depositing into the account the amount that is relative to your income for FRO to take. So once you get to court you can show that you maintained CS payments relative to your income despite the order given the time delay to bring the issue back to court for reduction. Then ask that the arrears be adjusted to show a no balance owing or a credit if FRO took money they were not entitled to.
        The only issue here is that we have not yet recieved EI payment. We have recieved a ton of confirmations and information that the benefit cheque is on the way, but it has not yet arrived. We calculated a presumed income for my fiance's new job... and requested the court to base CS on that amount. However, we won't know what happens with that until the court date in March.


        Originally posted by FL_Needs_To_Change View Post
        The affective date is very important on the next order.
        Oh yes it is! We will be watching that very very closely!

        Comment


        • #5
          When falling into arrears with FRO be careful. You will be asked to form a re-payment plan and then enforcement actions are taken. It can happen even if you are making regular payments ~ they just look at the arrears.
          You will most likely get the reduction back-dated but you can't count on it being October it may be January 1st/09. Depends if the Judge got their coffee. By the time FRO gets the new court order next summer you may have alot of arrears accumulated forcing them to take action on your case before it gets all straightened out and adjusted.

          As long as you have confirmation from EI that the $ is on the way it should come soon. Change to automatic deposit, cheques are a hassle.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Suchislife View Post
            You will most likely get the reduction back-dated but you can't count on it being October it may be January 1st/09. Depends if the Judge got their coffee. By the time FRO gets the new court order next summer you may have alot of arrears accumulated forcing them to take action on your case before it gets all straightened out and adjusted.
            I think we will keep paying the current over-our-means amount, and hope for it all to be adjusted by FRO once they get the new order with the reduction next summer. (How true is that?!) We definitely don't want to get on FRO's bad side!

            Originally posted by Suchislife View Post
            As long as you have confirmation from EI that the $ is on the way it should come soon. Change to automatic deposit, cheques are a hassle.
            Good news, the cheque has arrived! It arrived today. I was on my way home from work when my fiance called me squealing like a little child "My EI cheque came! My EI cheque came!" Unfortunately, we cannot use the EI payments to determine child support now that my fiance started a new job. I think the courts will want to base the amount on his new position rather than the EI benefits he received over the course of the two months he was unemployed. But whatever. We're just happy that some money finally came in! Who knows when dear ol' hubby will bring any more $$$ home! These commissions jobs are so unpredictable! Good thing I have a stable and secure job backed by one of the province's greatest unions! LOL!

            Comment

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