The Family Responsibility Office (FRO) enforces all support orders made by a court in Ontario. However, some payors and recipients want support payments to take place privately between them, without the involvement of the FRO. This is allowed in many cases.
The support recipient can withdraw from the program without the support payor’s consent, only if the payor is behind in their support payments. To withdraw without the support payors consent complete the Notice by Support Recipient of Unilateral Withdrawal form and send it to the FRO. The FRO will then notify the payor, stop all enforcement and close the case.
If support is fully paid, the support recipient and support payor must agree in writing to withdraw from the program. Complete the Notice of Withdrawal form when the support recipient and support payor both agree to withdraw and send it to the FRO. If the support payor and support recipient withdraw from the program, the FRO stops all enforcement action and closes the case.
If your support order is assigned to a government agency (such as OW or ODSP), the FRO cannot end the enforcement of a support responsibility even if both the support recipient and support payor agree, unless the agency agrees to it as well.
Please note that to re-open a closed case, a fee of $50 will be charged to both the support recipient and the support payor if you want to re-register with the FRO at a later date. If you are considering withdrawing from the program or have questions about this fee, please call the FRO at (416) 243-1909 or toll free 1-888-815-2757.