Case Study
A Near Wipeout
A single mother of three children complained to the Ombudsman’s Office that the Family Responsibility Office (FRO) had wrongly wiped out a debt of more than $60,000 in child and spousal support owed to her by her ex-husband. He had obtained a new court order reducing his support payments due to a change in circumstances, but the FRO had also erased the amount he still owed her under the old court order.
FRO staff told her she was now owed only $5,400 and she would have to go to court to collect any more. She could not afford this, as she had already paid out a significant amount in legal fees and had even had to resort to collecting social assistance because she had not been paid support in the past.
The woman’s MPP had tried to sort out the issue with the FRO without success. But after the Ombudsman’s staff contacted them, FRO staff reviewed the new court order and agreed that the intent was not to erase the spousal debt accumulated under the old court order. They amended the arrears owing and agreed to take action to collect the entire $66,921 owed to the woman and children, including $12,000 to be repaid to the government in return for social assistance she had been forced to collect.