The Role of the Family Responsibility Office

with Ritu Horra

Transcript from The Role of the Family Responsibility Office Video

Please note: The script may not be exactly what is spoken, but contains the same information as presented in the video.

Hello, today I would to discuss the role of the Family Responsibility Office.

Where support arrangements are set out in a separation agreement that is filed with the court or in a court order, the court will automatically file the order or agreement with the Family Responsibility Office and your support payments will be collected for you. If you would not like FRO to collect your support payments, you will have to file a Notice of Withdrawal with them.

If the support payor does not make arrangements to pay support directly to FRO, they have the ability to:

• Garnish (seize, or collect, all or part of) the payor’s wages and bring their employer to court if the employer disobeys or ignores the notice of garnishment;
• Garnish the payor’s bank account;
• Seize the payor’s RRSP;
• Suspend the payor’s driver’s licence;
• Register the support order as a charge on the payor’s house, other real estate or personal property;
• Request a default hearing, where the payor must explain to a judge why the support is not being paid. If the judge is not satisfied with the explanation, he or she can order that support be paid. In extreme circumstances, the judge can even send the payor to jail for failing to pay support.
• Ask the Federal Government to suspend a federal licence, e.g. passport or pilot’s licence.

I believe that one of FRO’s most effective methods of enforcement is the suspension of a payor’s driver’s licence. This usually takes place after the payor has been in default for number of months and the arrears have reached a certain amount. In this case, FRO will send the defaulting payor a notice that it intends to suspend their driver’s licence and will give them about one month’s notice. The payor must then pay the arrears or go to court to have FRO ordered to refrain from suspending the licence.

My only concern with FRO suspending a payor’s licence is that this may actually impact the payor’s ability to earn an income. What of the payor’s employment requires them to drive a vehicle, such a taxi driver? If a payor is unemployed, they cannot pay their support. FRO must consider these issues prior to taking this enforcement step.

It is also very important for the support recipient to ensure that they have at all times all up to date contact information for the payor including a valid address, telephone number and employer information. In order to FRO to enforce support, they must be able to contact the payor.

That’s all for today. Thank you for taking the time to watch this video. I hope that I have answered some of your questions about the role of the Family Responsibility Office.