Question regarding termination of c/s

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ShawnS

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My eldest daughter who is 19 attended college last fall only part time but the mother continued to collect c/s for her. She is now going to give birth in February and the mother is absolutely sure that my daughter will go back to school in March and has therefore refused to terminate support. This is fraud right? She sent a letter to FRO indicating that support termination should not happen because she will go back to school after the baby is born. Does she not have to terminate support and then reapply for support when she can provide proof of full time attendance? or can she keep defrauding me? Is this something I can go to the police about?

Secondly my 17yr old son has left home and is living on his own but she also did not send a termination of support for him. I am under the understanding that support should go directly to him now as he is still a minor until 18 and is still attending high school occasionally.
 
Request proof of enrollment for the 19y/o. I am also not sure if her having a child herself has an effect on c/s, essencially emacipating herself due to child birth.

For the son, I believe you still have to pay it to the ex - who should then redirect it to your son - until the court advises otherwise.

Police will be of ZERO help. What you need to do is file a motion in court to cease child support on the basis that neither child is either:

a. living at home; and/or
b. enrolled in full time school.

I highly doubt a new mom is going to go back to full-time school within 30 days of child birth. But you must take the first step and file a motion to cease c/s. The burden of proof will then be on your ex to prove that the kids live with her and that they in school full time.

edit - if you want to ask for costs, you should first ask your ex to consent to c/s being ceased. If she unreasonably withholds her consent, you may get costs. But if you skip the part of asking her, in writing, via registered mail, your chances of being awarded costs significantly diminish.

Also, see if you can get your son to move in with you if he doesn't want to live with her. It would be better for everyone involved if you could.

For your daughter, also request to receive copies of the term reports to confirm her continued enrollment and that she is passing.
 
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She has already submitted in writing to the FRO that I should be refunded all support I have paid since my daughter left school and also the support for my son that she received since he left home but refuses to submit a termination of support for either.

Edit: In fact in her letter to the FRO she indicated support for my daughter should not end because she is going back to school after the baby is born. I explained to her that she needs to submit the termination notice and then IF my daughter goes back to school then re-apply for support with documented proof of enrollment.

RE: my son, he wants to live on his own. (he turns 18 in March)
 
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Then file a motion to terminate. That is your only other remedy. Use her letter as evidence for why it should be terminated and that, should the kids re-enroll, you need continued proof of enrollment and passing grades.
 
I'm pretty sure you should consult a lawyer on this one. If she were a monir having a baby then you'd still be obligated to pay support, however she's not a minor and I do believe that her decision to have a baby ends the 'child of marriage' definition and you'd no longer be responsible for paying support. If you CHOOSE to help her out with schooling if she goes back, then great, but I don't believe you're obligated to.

Maybe pay the $6 for a call to the law society?
 
She has already submitted in writing to the FRO that I should be refunded all support I have paid since my daughter left school and also the support for my son that she received since he left home
Click to expand...

It's NOT up to them to refund you anything. SHE received the funds, SHE should give them back to you. I hope you have a copy of that letter.

I'm not trying to sound like an ass, but it's going to come out that way.

STOP RELYING ON YOUR EX TO DO THINGS FOR YOU

You feel CS should be terminated? Then take the proper steps YOURSELF. The onus is on YOU as the payor to take the necessary steps to have support terminated.

Child support for both children should end. Neither are a child of the marriage any longer. The oldest is NO LONGER in school and just gave birth, therefore making her legally an adult and self sufficient.

The 17 year old is no longer under his mother's care and is living on his own (ergo ALSO self sufficient). As a responsible parent, I would hope you would continue to offer support and assistance to your son, but legally, your obligated to continue to officially pay CS for him arguably has ended. The divorce act essentially sets the requirement for CS as being the children are under the age of majority and still dependent on their parents.

He under the age of majority BUT is NOT LONGER dependent. You have a case to have support terminated, OR to have it directed to him instead.

Your best bet to is have your ex agree, in writing, that support for him can be directed TO him by you. Then you send her the notice of withdrawal from FRO (noted below) and have her sign it. After that, spend the extra $ to have a lawyer draw it up as a new agreement and file it with the courts. It'll save you a TON of headache and protect you from the ex "changing her mind".

For the older child, here is the process you should do:

1. Fill out a NOTICE OF WITHDRAWAL and send it to your ex filled out and requiring ONLY her signature. Make sure you send it via R3 letter. (Registered, Receipt Required) to ensure you can prove she gets it. In with that, you write her a letter (as business like as possible) indicating that as %oldest child% is over 19, has a child of her own, and is not currently enrolled in a post secondary program, you are requesting she acknowledge that support for her has ended, and requesting her agreement to withdraw from FRO enforcement for her until such time as she is officially re-enrolled. (at which point you will agree to re-address the issue of support) Give her 10 business days to respond.

2. If she ignores you, you SCAN the form, and send her a followup email with both the form and your original letter scanned and attached, requesting a response on the matter.

3. If she IGNORES you, or does not agree, then you file a NOTICE TO END SUPPORT with FRO, outlining your reasons as above. (Child is over the age of majority, not enrolled in post secondary and has a child of her own, ergo no longer a child of the marriage).

4. After THAT, if FRO does not allow the termination (this can take a few weeks, so make sure your FRO worker actually RECEIVES the forms and ACKNOWLEDGES THAT to you) (use the aforementioned R3 letter), you file a motion with the court to end support, asking for your costs to be covered and for the overpayment that you incurred to be returned to you by the ex (including the over payment she has already acknowledge via her letter to FRO) (if you do NOT follow the FRO process as per the above, you won't have a shot at getting your costs back)
 
Great post NBDad !
ShawnS you need to make application to the courts and terminate CS with a COURT ORDER! 95+% of the decision capacity for FRO is via court order. You should not be paying CS any longer given the facts you expressed! If you need further help go to your area FLIC and come up to speed on the process involved. Check back here often and we will also help you. Get moving on this now.

Good luck
 
Just a quick follow up - and thank you for the great advice!

I had in fact submitted an Application to discontinue Enforcement of ongoing support with the FRO back in September, at that time she was already in violation with the order which stated that after 18 the children only get support during months that they are attending school full time and obtaining passing grades. She indicated in her response to the FRO that my daughter was enrolled full time but did not provide proof. She only checked a check box indicating that support should not end.

I spoke with council on Monday afternoon this week and he wanted a substantial retainer but felt he could get the matter through the courts quickly. I simply am not in a financial position to afford his services.

Monday afternoon I sent a final text to my ex and indicated that I would be seeking legal action because there was a deliberate attempt to deceive both the FRO and I in order to continue collecting child support. Normally this would not be a criminal matter, but fraud is fraud and in some circumstances where intent to deceive is proven (by her own admission most recently in her fax to FRO) then it can lead to an arrest. (This I was told directly by council)

She came clean and sent the required paperwork to FRO stating that support for both children has ended and gave valid cease dates for both.

Today she sent another fax to my office saying that she want to terminate spousal and make it effective 2 years ago. I suspect because she knows that she met the conditions of the order for termination based on her annual salary, which she never disclosed by providing me with Taxation assessments annually. She hasn't yet provided FRO with this information. This was not some startling revelation that she had I'm assuming, this was most likely done with intention which would put her around the $10,000 mark for fraud.

I would like to add.. I was strongly advised by council NOT to approach the police but to instead hire a lawyer and take the case to court, which would have taken months at a high personal cost. I am glad it worked out, but it could have potentially backfired on me as well (according to council, though I fail to see how).

Comments welcome
 
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