Motion To Change Child Support
Steps For Motion to Change Child Support
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After a final Order has been made by a Judge with respect to monthly child support payments, circumstances may arise that warrant changes be made to the original final Order. You will likely have to bring a motion to change child support. The procedure to bring about these changes to the Order has been outlined in Section 15 of the Family Law Rules. This process entails bringing a motion to change or modify child support payments.
A motion to change child support may be brought before judge when there is material change in the financial circumstances of the payor spouse or when there is material change in the financial circumstances of the receiving child. Example of this are:
- The payor spouse is making less or more money since the final Order was made;
- The receiving child is now self-sufficient in terms of financial support; and
- The living arrangement of the receiving child has change
This motion to change child support implies asking the Judge to consider the new facts that have emerged since the final Order and therefore change the original final Order accordingly.
If you plan to bring a motion to change monthly child support payments, you will require evidence to put forth in front a Judge in order to argue why a change is required to the original final Order. It is thus imperative to collect documents such as: a copy of an existing child support Order, copies of Income Tax Returns including T4 slips, pay stubs, ROE or severance documentation (if applicable) and medical reports (if income deduction is attributed to health related factors). These are some examples of documents that may be helpful for your motion and are not meant to be an exhaustive list. The evidence you need to consolidate depends entirely on the nature of your circumstance. Therefore, retaining a lawyer to bring a motion to change child support can prove to be highly beneficial for this purpose as they can advise on how to build a solid case ready with all the necessary documents for your matter.
Generally a motion to change may be brought utilizing two approaches
The first approach is when both parties agree to the changes to be made to the original Final Order. This is called a Consent Motion. In this case all parties involved complete and file with the court: Form 15D, Consent Motion to Change Child Support, which is to be signed by each party and any assignees. You then are required to file in Court 5 copies of a draft Order. You must then complete a Support Deduction Order Information Form and then have a draft Support Deduction Order filed in court. The Clerk at the court will bring these documents before the Judge. For a motion to change, no case conference is required and neither are the parties required to attend court, unless otherwise instructed by the Court. Once the Order has been signed, the Clerk will provide the signed order or they may contact to parties to instead attend court.
In the second approach, where there is no consent between the parties on the issue of changing the original final Order, a motion to change is also brought. In this case, the moving party (the party bringing the motion) completes Form 15 Motion to Change and Form 15A Change Information Form. Once completed these forms must be brought, including any additional supporting documents, to the family court office. The clerk will then affix the seal on the first page of form 15 and will date and sign the second page of form 15. This process had effectively issued your Motion to Change Child Support. The Clerk will also mark a box on the form which will either specify whether a first court date has been scheduled or no court has been scheduled. Immediately following this your documents become ready to be served.
Keep in mind depending on where your matter is being heard, a first court date may or may not be assigned. If your matter is being heard at the Family Law Branch at the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice, a first court date will likely be set. However, if you’re matter is proceeding before the Superior Court of Justice, the responding party will need to request a case conference in order to have the motion go forward.
Once the motion to change has been issued, you are required to serve a copy of the documents on the responding party. The documents which you must serve are:
Form 15 Motion to Change
Form 15A Change Information Form
Form 13 or Form 13.1 (Financial Statement if required)
A blank copy of Form 15B Response to Motion to Change
A blank copy of 15C Consent Motion to Change
You are required to serve these documents by a special service, which implies that the documents must be left either with the person or alternatively with the person’s lawyer. Following successful and valid service, the person who served the documents must fill out form 6B Affidavit of Service and have the filed at the appropriate court.
After the motion to change child support has been served on the responding party, within 30 days of being served they can either complete form 15C Consent Motion to Change or serve on the moving party and file in court Form15B Response to Motion to Change.
If Form 15C is signed then that implies the parties have reached an agreement with respect to the change sought in the original final Order. However, if Form 15B is served on the moving party and filed in court, that implies no agreement has been reached and the parties will further proceed to court to have a Judge make a new ruling in the matter.
We hope that this information has been helpful. If you need to setup a free consultation with a lawyer, you can contact our Family Law Lawyer at 416-792-5400.
Here are some helpful resources that provide more information about Motions to Change Child Support in Ontario:
How to bring a motion to change
How to vary a child support order
Filing or change support payments
Consent Motion to Change
