There are always a number of possibilities why a spouse is not paying child support, and not all of them are bad. Canadian child support laws have allowed for the establishment for Maintenance Support Programs, which help enforce support agreements. Sometimes, a former spouse takes ill or ends up with a job which garners him/her less money. In these cases, that spouse can seek the help of the MEP to work out new guidelines which will help him/her avoid delinquent child support payments.
Sadly, there are many times when a former spouse is simply not paying child support for more suspicious or insidious reasons. If you suspect your former spouse is not paying child support out of “revenge” or as a way to control the relationship between the parents and the children, it may be time to hire a professional investigator to help you gather evidence against him/her.
Know the Laws Governing Canadian Child Support
It helps to know the laws governing Canadian child support agreements inside and out. And while a lawyer will present all of that evidence in court, a private investigator is the one who will find the evidence in the first place. A PI is, by necessity, well-versed in Canadian law, and can help you get to the root cause of why your former spouse has been delinquent in child support payments. Because PI’s know how child support works, they can determine with much more credibility why you’re not receiving money for your child.
There could be a few less honorable reasons why your spouse is not paying child support. A private investigator can be used to determine motive:
Revenge: You’ve had a fight with your former spouse, and now s/he is not paying child support on time – or at all. This is illegal. Canadian child support laws were created to protect children of divorce, so refusal to pay based on a disagreement between the two parents is not sufficient grounds to stop making payments. There are a lot of parents who view withholding payments is a good way to “get back” at their spouses. Delinquent child support payments should be reported immediately; otherwise, it could set up a pattern for future payments – and do irreparable damage to the children.
Control: Your former spouse wants more time with your child which s/he is not legally entitled to, and thus has become delinquent in child support payments. Child support is not part of a reward system: paying less does not entitle a parent to less time, and paying more does not entitle a parent to more time. That’s simply not how child support works. If your former spouse believes the agreement is unfair, s/he is required to present the case to the government (usually through a court of law), or to contact an MEP (if registered).
Neglect: Sometimes the reason your former spouse is not paying child support has nothing to do you with you or your child, and everything to do with him/her. A “deadbeat” parent may have problems with drugs, alcohol, gambling or a new spouse. In cases of suspected neglect, it’s always best to seek the help of a professional PI, so that you can begin building evidence against him/her.
Canadian child support laws are NOT a system of reward and punishment. They’ve been put in place to ensure that the children of divorced parents are well-provided for, and are able to live in stable environments. And if you don’t know how child support works, then you might not realize that the money has nothing to do with ensuring that one parent or the other gets to spend time with the children: that’s the job of the custody agreement. So if your former spouse is not paying child support, then it’s time to move beyond calling him/her to ask why. The safety and the welfare of the children is the most important thing, so contacting an MEP, a lawyer and/or a PI can help you get the money your children are entitled to in a legal and professional manner.