Previously I wrote about the power of the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) power to enforce child and spousal support payments under the provincial legislation.*#
Today I’d like to discuss the federal counterpart legislation, the Family Orders and Agreement Enforcement Act.^
Under the federal legislation, provincial enforcement services (i.e., the FRO in Ontario) have wide access to personal information of the debtor. For example, information banks such as those controlled by the Department of Social Development, the Canada Revenue Agency, and the Canada Employment Insurance Commission may be searched.
Further to the access of personal information, federal funds (for example, income tax refunds) may be garnished under the applicable provincial law.
The provincial enforcement agencies (in Ontario, the FRO) may also seek the denial of certain licences to debtors who are in persistent arrears. Possible actions include
- the denial of new licences,
- suspension of currently held licences,
- the denial of the renewal of licences.
Examples of the licences covered by the provision include the following:
- Canadian passport
- Licences issued under the Aeronautics Act, such as commercial pilot licences – aeroplane
- Licences issued under the Canada Shipping Act, such as able seaman certificates,
However, in my opinion, the biggest potential damage to a debtor doesn’t come from the mere denial of a licence: it stems from the fact that there is no appeal for any action taken by the FRO under this piece of federal legislation**.
Once a licence is denied or suspended, it can only be lifted if the enforcement agency is satisfied in accordance to the provisions under the Act, or that the support payment in question is no longer enforced by the FRO.
PSWLaw is your family law advocate.
*See “Failure to Pay Support” (posted March 22, 2009).
# Family Responsibility and Support Arrears Enforcement Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 31.
^R.S.C. 1985 , c. 4 (2nd Supp) as am.
** ibid., s. 71
Please Note: This article is provided for information and educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be regarded as such. Regulation referred to may have been amended or repealed since the publication of the article.
Hello.
I am a recently divorced man living in Toronto. I have a 16 year old son who is living in the Barrie area with his mother. Of course, I am the one paying child support. This is my story.
In March, I entered into an agreement with my ex to pay an arrears amount owing in payments of $125/month on top of my monthly payments of $425/month. I approved this arrangement as I thought that it was fair and as the last thing I want to be is a “dead-beat” dad. I was assured by all of the legal representatives involved that once the judge issued the order, it would go to the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) and that they would look after the details. A few weeks later I started to see that my paycheck was getting smaller because of the FRO deductions. I have been going along all summer believing that the FRO was taking care of their end and that I was taking cae of mine through the payroll deductions that they were taking. In late August, I received a letter from FRO advising me that I was in arrears and that effective immediately they were going to be taking half of my wages until this shortfall was made up. Okay, so its only$700, however this doesn’t leave me much to live on. I am unable to pay my rent, insurance or car payments.
So, thinking that government is a fair and resonable beast, I contacted FRO to find out why they had not been taking these payments as per the court order. After 20 minutes of being on hold when I pressed 1 for the option of “if you pay child support…” and listening to such enlightening hold music as Runaround Sue, The Wanderer, Money and I Will Survive (twice; no joke), I finally spoke with a representative who was more than happy to listen to my story and offered to have my case owner call me back within 48 hrs. I was given the name of this person and was content to wait for a response. Forty eight hours passed and no call back so I called again, this time speaking with a male rep who assured me that he knows the person who is looking after my case and could assure me that I would get a call back by the end or the day. This was on a Friday morning. By Tuesday, I had still heard nothing and so called back in again, this time getting the same rep I spoke with the first time which did save me some time in explaining my situation. I was informed that for some reason I have a new case owner and that he will be getting back to me within 48 hrs. I was informed that I had breached the court order and that therefore there was nothing FRO could do. I explained to her once again, that I had not breached anything and that this situation would not exist had the FRO made the proper deductions from the begining. I was told again that it was I who breached the order and that I should not be trying to pass the blame off on the FRO as they are only doing their job. Hello? Isn’t their job to follow the instructions in the court order? If they don’t do this is it my responsibilty to tell them that they are messing up my account? Apparently, yes. I should have informed them once I noticed that they were not taking the correct amounts but as I did not, I have breached the court order and they can now take up tp 50% of my wages until this error (their error) is corrected. I had called in offering to make any other arrangements to pay this arrears so long as I did not jeapordise my own well being, but I am the one who is delinquint, so, no matter.
I agree that I did not inform them that they were not deducting the correct amount, but we’re talking the Ontario Government here! Surely they know what they’re doing? Surely they don’t make mistakes. Surely the would show some sense of accountability for their mistake and would at least talk to me about my options. After all, just because you can deduct up to 50% of a persons wages if they are in arrears doesn’t mean that you have to, or even that you should. Apparently not. It doesn’t matter that I am not in the best of health and that I need to sustain a specific and expensive diet just to maintain the level of health that I do have. I guess they figure that if I lose my apartment, I’ll be able to find gluten free diabetic friendly food at the food bank or in the nearest dumpster.
I am not a deadbeat dad, in fact I am doing all that I can to be a good father under the circumstances and yet the FRO insists that I be lumped in with the rest of their customers until such time as I prove otherwise. Do I not have rights? Am I not entitled to the same quality of life that I must provide for my son? Is there anyone sane out there?
To the FRO: rest assured that I will not go away. I will not give up without a fight. As I have previously stated to your lovely rep Meghan, my next step is to go to my MPP, followed by the Ontario Ombudsman, and then the premier’s office if need be. Just because a person has to pay child support does not mean that they have no rights! It also doesn’t mean that the person receiving the payments will actually use the money to support the child either, yet they are given the benefit of the doubt.
If your FRO deduction is less than what you should be paying, you have to remit the difference through mail or otherwise to the FRO. Otherwise you will be deemed by the FRO to be in arrears.