Court File and Parties
Court File No.: Brampton 10052/11 Date: 2012-04-13 Ontario Court of Justice
Between:
Jacqueline Pearl Firmage Applicant
— And —
Robert Reginald Rogers Respondent
Before: Justice P.W. Dunn In Chambers
Reasons for Judgment released on: 13 April 2012
Under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act
Judgment
P.W. Dunn, J.:
[1] Jacqueline Pearl Firmage brought an application dated 26 October 2011 under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, 2002, requesting that Robert Reginald Rogers pay Guideline child support for Keisha Amelia Ann Firmage, born 28 May 1999 (Keisha). Ms. Firmage resided in Gander in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Mr. Rogers lived in Brampton, Ontario. The request was that child support be retroactive to 16 February 2000.
[2] Mr. Rogers did not dispute that he is the biological father of Keisha, but he has had no involvement in the child's life since birth.
[3] Mr. Rogers consented to an order dated 27 August 2010 in the Provincial Court of Newfoundland and Labrador that Ms. Firmage have sole custody of Keisha.
[4] Mr. Rogers did not request an oral hearing.
[5] Mr. Rogers filed an Answer dated 29 March 2012. It was served on Ms. Firmage through the Family Responsibility Office on 29 March 2012. In that Answer, Mr. Rogers claimed:
The parties had a verbal agreement that Mr. Rogers would not be required to pay child support.
Ms. Firmage did not request that Mr. Rogers pay child support for about the first eleven years of Keisha's life.
Even when in August 2010 Ms. Firmage requested that Mr. Rogers consent to a custody order (which he did), she did not then ask that he pay child support.
In the summer of 2011, Mr. Rogers vacationed in Newfoundland. Mr. Rogers believed that that event upset Ms. Firmage because in October 2011 she launched her application for child support.
Mr. Rogers stated in his Answer that in early March 2012, he telephoned Ms. Firmage asking why she brought her application. Mr. Rogers said Ms. Firmage stated she did not need child support and she agreed to withdraw her application. Later Mr. Rogers said Ms. Firmage consulted her fiancée and she wished to pursue her claim.
Mr. Rogers claimed hardship. He supported a wife and two children and had difficulty making financial ends meet.
Mr. Rogers' financial disclosure indicated he earned $42,050 in 2011. Guidelines for one child would be $379 a month.
[6] There will be no order for retroactive child support, because I find that Ms. Firmage only applied for child support as recently as October 2011. Also Ms. Firmage gave no indication to Mr. Rogers that she would claim child support upon which statement Mr. Rogers relied in planning his financial affairs.
[7] Due to the unique circumstances of this case, and the hardship experienced by Mr. Rogers, the following order shall issue:
Order
Order for Robert Reginald Rogers to pay child support for Keisha Amelia Ann Firmage, born 28 May 1999, in the amount of $200 a month from 1 May 2012 and regularly monthly thereafter. Payments to the Family Responsibility Office.
A Support Deduction Order shall issue.
Released: 13 April 2012
Justice P.W. Dunn