What to do with your Refraining Order…

What to do with your refraining order

Topic: Family Law January 16, 2016 by LMR Website Team

You have obtained a refraining order, and you bring your motion to change. The motion has been served, a response has been filed, your case conference is date is set. A problem arises: you attend at your case conference and the matter does not settle. It is questionable as to whether or not it will settle without a motion or trial occurring. Now you have another problem: your refraining order has an expiration date. It is valid for a six month period. What can you do?

There is an option of obtaining an extension on the refraining order. This can be done in procedural motions court (presently Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in Ottawa).

35(21) of Ontario’s Family Responsibility and Support Arrears Enforcement Act permits the Court to grant an extension of a refraining order for either:

(a) three months, unless clause (b) applies; or

(b) six months, if the motion to change is being dealt with under section 44 of the Family Law Act, sections 18 and 19 of the Divorce Act (Canada) or the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, 2002

The motion must be made on notice to the Director of the Family Responsibility Office (FRO). FRO’s legal counsel’s fax number can be found here.

It would be prudent to provide FRO legal counsel with sufficient advance service of your notice of motion and supporting affidavit and draft order so that if possible you can obtain a consent order.

Two other points to know:

  1. You must bring your motion prior to the expiration of the original refraining order (see s. 35(22)); and
  1. You can bring your motion before a Master to extend the Order of a judge, as such an order is not setting aside, varying or amending the Order of a judge.

If you have any questions on this subject matter or questions relating to FRO enforcement do not hesitate to contact the lawyers in LMR’s Family Law Group , we can assist you in developing a comprehensive strategy to deal with your child or spousal support matters.

This blog post is of a general nature and is not intended to be construed as legal advice.

[ssba]