COURT FILE NO.: FS-16-851

DATE: 2021 01 27

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - ONTARIO

RE: R.F., Applicant AND: E.B., Respondent

BEFORE: Conlan J.

COUNSEL: R.F., Self-Represented E.B., Self-Represented

HEARD: January 27, 2021

ENDORSEMENT

[1] The Respondent father, E.B., has brought a Motion to Change the Final Order of Justice Kurz made on February 19, 2019. The Applicant mother, R.F., opposes the Motion to Change, at least in part. The parties are both self-represented. The file is a colossal mess, and, regrettably, frustration boiled over during the Zoom hearing on January 27, 2021. No viva voce evidence was presented at the hearing.

[2] No “Order” can be found. Just a handwritten Endorsement which appears to incorporate typed “Final Minutes of Settlement”, with handwritten additions, stuff scratched-out, no witness for one of the signatures, and a myriad of other annoyances. Justice Kurz’s Endorsement expressly required the lawyer for the mother to “take out the order”, but it appears not to have been done. It only made sense that the said responsibility fell on that lawyer, as the father had no counsel at the time. If that lawyer had brought the within Motion to Change, I would have contemplated simply dismissing it for failure to obey that express directive, however, I am not going to punish the father for it.

[3] A piece of friendly advice to lawyers and litigants alike, however – please prepare and have issued a proper Order, especially for final dispositions. Where the final disposition incorporates relatively poorly-drafted and messy Minutes, like exists in this case, the advisability of a proper Order is even stronger.

[4] The father wants (i) child support for two youngsters (12 and almost 8 years old) reduced from $893.81/month to $700.00 per month, and (ii) “a new order to see the children without using any exchange centers or any paid programs”. I do not know how the $700.00 per month was calculated; nobody can help me with that. I do not know why item (ii) is asserted, by implication, to be in the best interests of the children; the affidavit sworn by the moving party father (November 26, 2020) says not a single word about that relief being sought.

[5] So, item (ii) is dismissed.

[6] Regarding item (i), the mother should have consented to some relief being granted. There is no question that the Order under review was based on an income for the father ($58,663.00) that is higher than what he earned since (the most being $56,430.00 in the tax year 2019). There is also no question that the existing Order expressly provides for the annual adjustment of child support payable depending on tax documentation. This is, with respect, not difficult.

[7] The father is not asking for any retroactive change. Thus, commencing on February 1, 2021, and on the first day of each consecutive month thereafter, E.B. shall pay child support for the benefit of the two children in accordance with the current Federal Child Support Guidelines based on a gross annual income of $56,430.00. The Court Office shall prepare the formal Final Order for my review, and that shall contain the monthly child support figure.

[8] Enforcement shall take place through the Family Responsibility Office, and a Support Deduction Order shall issue accordingly.

[9] To be clear, this new Final Order does not vary anything else ordered by Kurz J., including the $100.00 per month that the father is required to pay towards section 7 expenses for the children, and it does not in any way affect any arrears of child support owed by the father or the enforcement thereof.

[10] Result: Motion to Change allowed in part. No costs because of divided success.

[11] I urge these parties not to come back to Court again. The yearly adjustments to child support can be done through the Family Responsibility Office by having the February 19, 2019 Final Order formally taken out and sent to that Office. I will do it myself if the former lawyer does not. If a future Motion to Change is required, the parties ought to present it in writing and on consent. Court appearances, whether over a video screen or otherwise, are not meant to be a hobby.

(“Original signed by”)

Conlan J.

Date: January 27, 2021