REMO-Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Order

Addy

Just catching up with how people are doing. Kimi, I'm too applying for REMO from the NRP of my two eldest boys who now lives in Florida!. Had my swearing-in session at local magistrates court last JUNE.....a confirmation that he'd been served the papers at the beginning of September, but nothing since

Since then, I've discovered I'm pregnant with twins, had to sell the house and move to a bigger rented house....I must chase up the court to see if there's been any further developments (suspect there hasn't)

My delightful ex has informed the children that he now has no money as he's had to engage a lawyer to defend himself as their mother is trying to take all his money!! Total lie, all I asked for was a reasonable amount. He told them this was the reason he was unable to send them any Christmas presents. I deliberately hadn't told them anything about this, as they still have regular contact with him and in fact go and see him once a year (he has the money for flights for them funnily enough). So over Christmas, I was evil mum!! The man is just despicable.

carlywarlywains

AnxiousMum wrote: »

Any of you going through REMO - stick with it! Kimi - if your ex has started to pay bits and pieces - great - just keep the court informed as to what payments he has made, but keep the case going - otherwise you have to start all from scratch again if he decides to mess you around again.
I've gone through REMO with Canada, and my ex has HAD to make his payments, as well as come up with arrears - he's not happy, but my kids are getting what they are entitled to finally! Hang in there, see it through. If the ex all of a sudden has no problems paying their child support - then in reality, they shouldn't mind that it's being monitored by an enforcement agency in their country of residence.

Hi AnxiousMum

I was reading your posts regarding REMO and that your ex was in Canada. which is a similar situation to mine. I am in Scotland and my ex is in Canada, now married with a new baby and is refusing to contribute to my daughter financially he says because he is not working that he is not paying anything and will not unless i get a court order to force him to (he is the house husband and she works).

I was just wondering if you would have any advice on how I go about get a court order, dealing with REMO etc. I am at the first stage of trying to find a lawyer to help but not even sure if I need one or if I can do it myself...Anyway just wondered if you would like to give some pointers, feel free to PM me if you prefer...x

AnxiousMum

That's a little unfortunate for him that he's decided to be a stay at home dad and not think about his parental responsibilities in the finances area!

Not sure how you go about it in Scotland if it's the same as here, but on the Canadian end, the court will ALWAYS decide in the best interest of the child who is the subject of the child support order, and that is that the child is ENTITLED to be supported by both parents until the legal age of the province (in BC this is 19), or, until they are financially independent which can be longer if the child decides to go to university, or is disabled etc.

My ex decided that his self employed earnings of over $100,000 CDN were 'too much' after we separated, and he showed his income as $35,000 the next year, the following year down to about $9,000 and then down to $3,000. He then decided that he would quit work altogether and go to school full time. The court's response......tough - you can't do that, as you can't afford to as well as support your children - go to school part time as you still need to provide for your family. As the Judge was able to see that his self employed earnings were 'unreasonable' in comparison to his lifestyle, they imputed an income on him based on the market at the time. He was imputed an income of $80,000 given that he would be going to school part time, and child support was awarded on that basis.

The courts do not take kindly to an NRP who quits work to get out of child support etc., and they ALWAYS base any award on the last three years of tax returns - as in the real world, a parent just doesn't up and quit their job when they have mouths to feed.

A couple of questions:

Which province does he live in?
Do you know what he did for a living, or what his annual income was when working?
How long has he been a 'stay at home dad'
Do you have an existing order in Canada?
Do you have information on him such as Social Insurance Number, a photograph, address, etc?

You will get somewhere with REMO if he's in Canada - he'd better start looking for work!

AnxiousMum

Oh, forgot to mention, you do not need a lawyer. Will check and see if it's the same in Scotland, but here in England you go to the Magistrates court, you have your hearing after he's been asked to respond. As he is living in Canada, you are best to ask the court to go by Canadian law, as it's of course more likely to get passed through the court rather than bounce back and forth.
Depending on your answers above, there are Canadian Child Support guidelines - that basically say 'you earn this much, you have this number of children, therefore you pay this much in CS'. There is VERY LITTLE variation on this, and as the guidelines are produced by the Justice department, which employs the Judges, the Judges HAVE to tow the line with them.
One other thing which would be helpful to know - are you divorced, or, living together as a couple. Is his name on the birth certificates. Were the children born here or in Canada - and if here, does he have parental responsibility?

Kimi31

Addy
Is yours friends with mine?? They sound about the same. Mine can afford to send them wii games via amazon at 20.00 + a go yet cant afford CS.
Can afford to run a HUGE car while i run our children round in a rust bucket. And is currently paying the IRS $500 back a month. A bill he surely cant miss out on paying. Yet continually tells me he hasnt been paid( works on commisiion only) and how his employer( about the 8th employer in 10 yrs) has 'screwed' him over
I swore my papers in Nov so he should in theory be served pretty soon you think?? Had confirmation that the papers had been sent to Florida Xmas time.
Ive not asked for a huge sum, in fact i have requested the US court put a figure on it and i havent requested back payments either. SHould have done this a LONG time ago. These 'fathers' need to know that they have responsibilites

AnxiousMum

Carly - just remembered when Kimi has mentioned above that she hasn't gone for back payment in her request - if you are using the Canadian system you CAN request up to three years back payment as long as you have notified the NRP during that time that you are going to be filing for child support. So, if you have notified him say, six months ago that you will be filing for child support payments, you can get your payments backdated that six months. The courts look on it that if you notified him six months ago of your intentions, then he should've been ensuring he put money away, or started doing the parental thing and started providing for the child given that he was aware of the need.

I've looked at the Scottish system - and it's exactly the same as the English system in regards to REMO. So you file your request at the Magistrates Court (may have to go to one with a Family division rather than your local one to ensure you are dealing with clerks who are aware and familiar with the program). NRP should then receive a notice of filing and have the opportunity to send his information to you and the court. You get a court hearing day with the Magistrates, a provisional order is made there. Once that is done, it is sent back to the NRP and the local enforcement agency in his Province, and a court date is set up for him to appear. It's at that court hearing that your British order is made enforcable in Canada. Then you need to file your paperwork with the Family Maintenance Enforcement program in the Province he lives. If he chooses not to pay, they will intercept federal funds (tax returns which he has to file whether he's working or not), they will waste no time in registering arrears on any property he owns, reporting to credit reporting agencies (that's the one that got my ex to pay up his arrears!), and they will also go after having his drivers licence and passport cancelled. Most places in Canada are not very easy to live in if you're not allowed to drive - very few people over the age of 17 rely on public transportation!
The sooner you get your paperwork filed with the Magistrates court the better - as it will definitely be backdated to the date of application.

PlayingHardball

Hello guys,

Thought I'd update those of you who have followed my REMO saga. I am still not receiving any payments from NRP as a result of my REMO application of December 2009, however, after appealing the CSA decision to close my case a few months after that, I've now been to a tribuanl hearing, my tribunal was successful and the CSA case has been reopened from the day it was closed. This is great news and I am really thankful to the ladies from NACSA for helping me win my 'day in court'. I won't post my next steps just yet, but will keep you posted!

Onwards and upwards - REMO is still active so the race is on between their systems and the CSA! Either way, I won't give up

AnxiousMum

Fantastic news PHB!!!!!! Well done you - perserverence in the end will win Wonder who will win the race......

I got notifcation today that ALL arrears will be settled this month - as the lien that the Canadian system put on the ex's house has to be released so that he can renew his mortgage - ah bless So, they have an agreement with him that they will temporarily remove the lien, and he remortgages his house as long as all arrears are paid. When his new mortgage is in place, they put the lien back on for the amount of all future payments that will be due. No wonder he paid a chunk of his arrears in November to avoid the credit reporting - knowing he'd need the clear report in January for his mortgage. I hope he also adds enough onto his remortgage to replace those funds he stole from our son's trust fund in order to pay the arrears he paid then!

mico62

Great news PHB and AM.

I received another payment last week, thats 3 at 5 weekly intervals but he sent $200 more than the amount in the court order. He wired money to eldest for xmas so I didn't think I'd get anything as he was pleading poverty to him on xmas day, "totalled his merc, had a vasectomy and going to live in Singapore with his new wife" - ha REMO in force there too - but what a stupid thing to say to your son. But to make you all smile his conversation to 15 yr old daughter went along the lines do you smoke, do you drink, have you had sex, have you tried pot - she was disgusted cos she's very straightlaced but I wish she'd answered yes done all of them!

Charliuk

Hello!

I have just completed the paperwork to start a REMO against my ex. Story too long to repeat on here as did so on another post.

Ex is living in Canada, paying £240 -£260 for 3 children every now and then.

He went to work up north for a couple of weeks but is not back yet. no western union there apparently, he wouldnt tell me exactly where he was working.

He emailed my daughter this morning to say he was working in Quensel BC. I looked up western union and there are two branches there! Emailed him with the addresses and said I want the money now!!

He will get a lovely shock when he gets the REMO! Fly on the wall springs to mind!!

My daughter wondered whether the courts might consider his snowboarding and quadbike costs essential when he has to declare his finances!! I dont think so!:rotfl: