"I need to change my child support payments" - BlogBite (22)

"I need to change my child support payments"

Folks, this is one of the most common phrases we hear in our family law practice.

People who want to change child support payments may present the following reasons (or a combination of them):

1. the payor may be making more money
2. the child is no longer in contact with the payor - ie: I am not seeing my child, why should I pay?
3. the child is over 18
4. the child is no longer in school full-time
5. the recipient of child support is refusing to provide the payor with information about the child's school attendance
6. the payor may be making less money...

and so on and so on.....this is not a complete list by any means.

Also, in the above list, not all reasons are actual reasons why child support would be changed by the Court.

When considering a change in child support, you need to address two basic questions:

1. do I have a legitimate reason to change child support?        and

2. how do I do it? - the procedure differs depending on whether the child support payments are being made based on a Court Order, based on a Separation Agreement or based on a verbal agreement.

As to a potential reason for the change, this is a legal issue and we suggest you obtain legal advice on it.

As to the procedure, we will soon be able to assist, even if you are self-represented. We are about to launch a series of Manuals and Kits, including to assist you in changing your child support payments.

STAY TUNED!!!!


UPDATE - January, 2018

We are pleased to let you know that our Etsy shop is now OPEN!

Visit it here: SELFREP SUPPORT

In the shop, we make available to you Manuals (E-books) on various topics, to assist you in representing yourself before Ontario's family law Courts.

So far, we have Manuals on:

• preparing an effective Financial Statement (both long-form and short-form); 
• preparing an effective Affidavit; and
• the basics of service and filing...

MORE MANUALS TO COME! 

Self-Rep Support - Kits and Manuals

Happy New Year!

For a wide variety of reasons about which we will not post today, more and more people are representing themselves before Ontario's family courts.

We have found that many such "self-reps" or "SRLs" (self-represented litigants), as they are known to judges and lawyers, need help. The legal machinery can be overwhelming.

This blog was born from the idea that people out there need a bit more information about family law in Ontario. Since we began posting here, we have noted the ever-increasing numbers of self-reps and considered some of the difficulties they face when they appear before Courts without a lawyer.

While our ability to help you with substantive issues (actual legal concepts, "the law") is limited, we will try and help at least with some of the procedure, paper-work and so on.

We plan on doing so with a series of manuals which will be available to you in our Etsy shop - to be opened by the middle of January, at the latest.

PLEASE WATCH FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

Topics for our manuals will include, for example:

1. How to complete an effective Financial Statement
2. How to complete an effective Application and Reply
3. How to complete an effective Answer
4. Pointers for filling out the Office of the Children's Lawyer questionnaire
5. Steps to take when changing child support.

"Your Honour, I don't have a lawyer" - Unbundled services and other resources

The title - an increasingly common phrase heard in Ontario's family courts.

Between 2014 and 2015, more than 50% of family law litigants were unrepresented.

There are many reasons for this state of affairs - they are not the subject of this post.

Since 2011 or so, active steps have been taken, by various branches of the government and the legal system in general, to address the growing tide of self-represented parties before the Court.

What we want to draw to your attention in this post, if you are a self-rep, are two things:

1. take a look at this website, which has A LOT of very useful information for self-reps. It's a product of an ongoing project headed by the University of Windsor Law School (my alma mater), studying the needs of self-reps and finding ways to assist them - representingyourselfcanada website

2. one option you have, while navigating through the court system on your own, is to get some limited help from a lawyer - these are called "unbundled services" - this means that you do not retain a lawyer for the whole case but rather, for specific tasks only. For example, a lawyer could help you prepare materials for a specific hearing or review an offer than has been made by the other side. You would be entering into a Limited Retainer with that lawyer, based on a set of Rules provided to the legal profession by the Law Society of Upper Canada.

We do provide unbundled services. Many other lawyers do as well. Find the lawyer who is right for you - in your area.

Representing yourself can be tough and overwhelming and we realize that sometimes, you simply have no other choice. Consider unbundled services, though - they may assist you in dealing with some particularly challenging areas in your case.

UPDATE - January, 2018

We are pleased to let you know that our Etsy shop is now OPEN!

Visit it here: SELFREP SUPPORT

In the shop, we make available to you Manuals (E-books) on various topics, to assist you in representing yourself before Ontario's family law Courts.

So far, we have Manuals on preparing an effective:

• Financial Statement (both long-form and short-form); and
• Affidavit.

MORE MANUALS TO COME!