DIVORCE TIPS

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Legal Disclaimer:
Note that the author is not a lawyer and any information provided is just helpful knowledge from someone who has been there. You should not interpret it as legal advice. The author is not responsible for adverse outcomes related to acting upon any information offered.  Consult a lawyer  when necessary. 

All tips are (c) 2008, Eric Dormer.

DIVORCE TIP 001

DIvorce Tip #001: Child Support Agreements must be Endorsed

08-Mar-05

Hi Divorce Tip Guy,

My ex-wife and I are splitting up, and we have agreed on a suitable amount of child support. If we write it out and sign it,  with a witness,  is that legally sufficient?

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The information contained below in this tip is
Copyright (c) Eric Dormer, 2008.

Legal Disclaimer:
Note that I am not a lawyer and any information provided is just helpful knowledge from someone who has been there. You should not interpret it as legal advice. The author is not responsible for adverse outcomes related to acting upon any information offered.  Consult a lawyer  when necessary. 

NO. You cannot simply write out a child support agreement and witness it to make it legally sufficient in Ontario.

The idea behind child support is that it is ordered by the COURT to benefit the CHILD. Its not an arrangement between the parents, so it is not something they are allowed to change without the courts consent.

For instance, a parent is NOT automatically allowed to decline child support, even if they feel its not necessary.  The court has the final say about what agreement they will accept or not. This is called "endorsing" the child support order. They look it over ensuring there is some basic fairness to the child, and ensuring the childs interests are not ignored.

There is some danger to a man who agrees to any child support or payment plan with his ex-wife, if he does not get it endorsed by the court. It doesn't matter if it is written out, and witnessed. No agreement between the parents can be considered ultimately binding, since determining what is suitable for child support is not up to the parents. 

There are many cases where a woman agreed to little or no child support, often because she received the matrimonial home or a lump sum payment. The agreement was fully documented and witnessed.

Some years later, the woman decides she needs more money to raise children in her care, and comes back demanding child support, and perhaps even ARREARS child support back to the date of separation. The woman effectively wants to DOUBLE DIP, since she got the lump sum payment, and now wants child support also. If she is reaching back years, the sums are huge. Needless to say, these disputes are highly emotional, with lots of dollars on the line, and a man can have a real sense he is being abused.

However, if the man did not get the child support agreement endorsed by the Court, he is on very weak legal ground, and he may well have to pay her child support, and arrears, despite previously having made a lump sum payment.

To avoid all this misery, follow these rules:

a) WRITE OUT ALL AGREEMENTS, with a DATE, and WITNESS.  If the agreement is about child support, be explicit about it.

b) Get child support agreements ENDORSED by the court.  If both mother and father are in agreement, you can get the endorsement as part of an un-contested divorce submission, which various paralegal firms will assist with for under $1000. If you want to, you can even do the filings yourself.

c) PAY any amounts owing under a child support agreement on time and in full.

d) KEEP RECORDS of all payments made, and be explicit if they are child support payments, extra-ordinary expense payments, or other payments. Keep your cheque stubs or cancelled cheques.

e) Every 3 or 6 months, try to get both parties to approve of the others records, by initialing each page. This prevents a dispute about the accuracy of records later, when nobody can remember the details.

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