July 29, 2020 – Default Hearings

“The purpose of a Default Hearing is to require the payor to come before the court to explain his default: Family Responsibility and Support Arrears Enforcement Act, 1996, “FRSAEA”, S.O. 1996, c. 31, as. am, s. 41. The central issues are the amount of arrears and the payor’s ability to pay. Payors are presumed to have the ability to pay the arrears and to make subsequent payments under the order unless the payor meets his onus to prove the contrary: FRSAEA, s. 41(9). The Court may adjourn the hearing and may make a temporary order, which may include all of the relief available under s. 41(10) of the FRSAEA, including a period of imprisonment: Fisher v. Ontario (Director, Family Responsibility Office), 2008 ONCA 815.

Director, Family Responsibility Office for the benefit of Edith Marie Marielle Bernard v. Fuhgeh, 2019 ONSC 4531 (CanLII) at 16