Wrong, wrong, wrong

A woman complained to the Ombudsman in May 2013 that her ex-husband owed $46,000 in spousal support and the FRO was not enforcing a court order that he pay it.

According to the FRO, since the man had filed for bankruptcy in 2011, it couldn’t take action against him for any of the support owing since that time. In fact, unpaid support from the year prior to the bankruptcy was off limits, but any support accrued since then was not. In November 2013, the FRO filed a claim on her behalf with her ex-husband’s bankruptcy trustee.

However, the woman contacted us again in 2014 because the FRO’s claim contained the wrong information about the amounts owing, and it still wasn’t taking any enforcement action against her ex-spouse, who had not paid any of the arrears or the full monthly support amount she was owed.

Ombudsman staff spoke with the FRO and the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, confirming that the FRO had submitted incorrect information and failed to follow its own policies when filling out the forms. FRO staff resubmitted the claim with the correct information and began enforcement action. As a result, the ex-husband started paying the court-ordered monthly support and some of the unpaid support arrears. The FRO also wrote to the woman and acknowledged its enforcement delays and errors.

Read about how we helped other people in our Selected cases.