Court Order vs Contract??

[babygirl]

My ex and I have what i believe to be a Court Order. It is sealed by the Supreme Court of Canada and called a Final Order and It states "this court orders" and then our agreement follows.

My concern is that my ex is saying he will not pay the set amount of child support and that he is not in contempt. Here is his direct quote:

" I said it is not a court order we have but a seperation agreement endorsed by the court thus there is no contempt but rather a breach of contract if I dont pay. Having said that it is a contract and as you know it can be reworked on a regular basis at any time as long as the proper paper work is filed then I am not breaching anything."

Who is right? What are my next steps?

[dadtotheend]

You sure that doesn't say Superior Court of Justice? Everyday folks don't get orders from the highest court in the land, being the Supreme Court of Canada.

If it is a separation agreement you may have registered the agreement with the court in which case it becomes an court order and carries the full weight of an court order. Otherwise it already was a court order.

In Ontario, court orders providing for payment of child or spousal support are automatically registered with the Family Responsibility Office. If you withdrew from FRO involvement the you can re-file the order with the Family Responsibility Office.

Once you do that the government will enforce payment of the order and your ex will soon find out that the consequences for non-payment are severe.

His cavalier comment about re-working the order (not contract) at any time doesn't seem to acknowledge that the court order stands until the court changes it. Without your agreement he will be forced to return to court in order to make that happen. Not nearly as easy as he appears to think it is.

[babygirl]

opps...that was what i meant. Superior Court

[InterprovincialParents]

If it states Final Order on it, and is signed at the bottom of the last page by a justice, your ex is out to lunch. It is contempt not to pay, but many people still are in arrears of child support. I would fax a copy of it to FRO after speaking to someone at that office, and let your ex deal with his delusions

[limer]

If your going to go through the Family Responsibility Office, download the application from their website. In addition to the court order, there will also be a Support Deduction Order that the court house is supposed to send to the FRO with the court order. Make sure you send in both, otherwise, they won't enforce it.