You and your partner agree on changes to child support
If you and your partner agree to change an order or that has been filed with the court for only, you need to fill out:
- Form 15D: Consent Motion to Change Child Support, which explains the new child support arrangements you and your partner agree to. You and your partner have to sign the form in front of a . You can't witness each other's signatures. Attach a copy of your existing order or separation agreement.
- Form 25: Order, where you list the orders you're asking the judge to sign.
- Support Deduction Order.
- Support Deduction Order Information Form.
- Confirmation of Assignment form, to find out if your support payments go through an agency such as Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program.
- Statement of Arrears Form, to find out the amount of unpaid support.
- Stamped envelopes addressed to you and your partner if you want your order mailed to you. Otherwise you can pick it up from the court or have it faxed to you.
If your child support or payments go through a social services agency, such as Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), you may have to the Ministry of Community and Social Services. Serve your documents on the Ministry of Community and Social Services below explains how to do this.
You must your completed documents at the court. You can file your documents with the court online or in person. File your court forms and documents below explains how to do this. After your documents have been filed, the gives them to a judge to review and make an order.
Usually you don't need to see the judge unless they need more information from you. This is because you and your partner both agree to the changes.
The court clerk sends a certified copy of the signed order to you and your partner in the stamped envelopes you gave. They can also fax it to you, or call you to pick it up, if that's what you prefer.
If the judge has questions for you or your partner, the court clerk will contact you with a court date or provide you with a copy of the judge's that sets out any other steps you or your partner have to take.
If you're successful in changing your order for support, the court sends your new Support Deduction Order Information Form and the Support Deduction Order to the (FRO). The FRO will enforce the new support order.
How to:
Serve your documents
Rule 6: Service of documents tells you how to serve your partner and any other people or agencies you have to serve.
Documents can be served in 2 ways – by special service or by regular service. The Family Law Rules tell you which way you have to serve your documents at each step in the court process.
You can usually serve your partner yourself, or get a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server to do it for you.
Special service
To serve your documents by special service means you, a family member or friend who is at least 18 years old or a professional process server must do one of the following:
- give a copy to your partner directly
- leave a copy with your partner's lawyer
- mail a copy to your partner, but your partner must send back a special form to confirm they received the document
- leave a copy in an envelope addressed to your partner at your partner's home with any adult living with your partner, and then mail a copy of the documents to that address within one day
Regular Service
To serve your documents by regular service means you must do one of the following:
- mail a copy to your partner or their lawyer
- courier a copy to your partner or their lawyer
- fax a copy to your partner or their lawyer
- email a copy to your partner or their lawyer
- serve a copy by special service
The following documents can only be served by mail, courier, or fax to your partner or their lawyer:
- an Application
- a motion to change
- a notice of contempt motion
- a summons to witness
- a notice of motion or notice of default hearing where the person to be served faces a possibility of jail
6B: Affidavit of Service
After your documents are served, you, or whoever served the documents, must fill out Form 6B: Affidavit of Service. This can be done at the court counter, with the help of the court clerk.
Form 6B asks for:
- the name of the person who served the documents
- the name of the person or agency that was served
- when the documents were served (day, month, and year)
- where the documents were served (house number, apartment number, street name, city, and province)
- what documents were served (Application, Answer, Reply, notice of motion)
- how the documents were served (in person, at place of residence, by regular mail, courier, fax, or email)
This form must be sworn or affirmed. This means the person signing it is promising that the information in it is true. It is against the law to not tell the truth when swearing or affirming an affidavit.
Form 6B proves that your partner got a copy of your documents and knows that they have to respond to them.
More information on serving documents can be found in the Ministry of Attorney General's A Guide to Family Procedures, Part 6: Serving Documents.
Safety issues
If you fear for your safety or the safety of any friend or family member when serving documents, you can ask the court staff to arrange for your documents to be served.
Serve your documents on the Ministry of Community and Social Services
If your child support or spousal support payments go through a social services agency, such as Ontario Works (OW) or the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), it means your support is paid or assigned to the agency. The social service agency is called the assignee. Your support payments go directly to OW or ODSP, and they pay you the full amount of social assistance even when support is not paid.
If this is your situation, you must include the agency in the court process and in any agreements you make to change your support order.
If you don't serve the agency or get its consent, the agency can ask the court to set aside the new order that you get. This means the court says the new order shouldn't be followed. The court can also order costs against you. This means that you may have to pay some of the agency's costs for asking the court to set aside the order.
To find out if your support is assigned, fill out a Confirmation of Assignment form and fax or mail it to the Ministry of Community and Social Services.
Your form is processed within 3 working days, then mailed or faxed back to you. If your support order is assigned, it will tell you which agency has to be served.
You serve your documents on an agency the same way you serve your partner. See Serve your documents to learn how to do this.
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