Brampton has family ties that reach across the country and around the world. A parent may have taken a job in Alberta, gone back to Punjab to care for a relative, or settled in New Jersey with a new partner. The child stays here, the rent stays due, and the question becomes whether an order from a Peel courthouse means anything in the place that parent now calls home. It can also run the other way: you live in Brampton and an order made in another province has just arrived in your mail.
The law has an answer to most of these situations, and you may not need to travel or hire a lawyer in another country to use it. Ontario has laws and treaties that let courts and enforcement offices work across borders. What it does not have is one single process. The right route depends on three questions: where the other parent lives, whether there is already an order or agreement, and whether the two of you were married and divorced.
This article gives general information and not legal advice. Foreign law and the list of participating countries can change, so check your own situation with the Family Responsibility Office or a lawyer before you act.
Start with the three questions
Where does the other parent live? Ontario’s rules divide the world into categories: elsewhere in Canada, the United States, other countries with reciprocal arrangements, and countries with none. The first thing to do is to find out where the parent ordinarily lives, as well as you can. An old address, an employer’s name or a relative’s contact details can all help.
Is there already an order or agreement? If there is nothing, you need to obtain an order. If there is one, you may need to register it for enforcement, or to change the amount.
Are you divorced? Married parents who have divorced may have an extra route under the federal Divorce Act. Parents who were never married, or who are separated but not divorced, generally use the provincial one.
Keep your answers beside you as you read the rest.
Getting a new order under the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act
The Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act, 2002 (often called ISO) is the main Ontario statute for this work. It lets a person living in Ontario apply for support from someone living in a “reciprocating jurisdiction” without going there. According to the province, those jurisdictions include every Canadian province and territory, every U.S. state, and many other countries.
In broad terms, it works like this:
- You complete the application package. The main form is Form A.1, and depending on your case, you add supporting forms for parentage, the child support claim, special expenses and your financial information. You also fill out a form that helps identify and locate the other parent.
- Many of these forms must be sworn before a commissioner of oaths or a notary.
- You send the package to the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Unit at the Family Responsibility Office (FRO).
- The unit forwards it to the appropriate authority where the other parent lives.
- A court there holds a hearing. The other parent has to respond with their own financial information. You generally do not attend.
- If an order is made, FRO sends you a copy.
Because you will not be in the room, your paperwork has to do the talking. A judge who has never met you will rely on what you send. Explain the facts clearly, attach the documents the forms call for, and keep a copy of everything.
Which law decides the amount
People often assume that Ontario’s support tables follow their child anywhere, or that a parent can escape them by moving. The answer is more specific than either.
When a case is heard under ISO by an Ontario court, the amount of support is decided under Ontario law. The same principle generally applies elsewhere: a court in another jurisdiction will usually apply its own law to the amount. As a result, an application sent from Brampton to a court abroad may produce a figure that is quite different from what the Ontario table would suggest.
Under the Federal Child Support Guidelines, the table used is generally based on the province where the paying parent ordinarily lives. A parent who moves to a different province may see the figure shift for that reason alone. Where the paying parent lives outside Canada, the table is generally the one for the province where the receiving parent lives. Those rules apply in a case decided under the Guidelines, such as a Divorce Act case heard in Canada.
Income raises its own issue. A parent earning in a foreign currency, or paid partly in benefits, needs to show this clearly. The Guidelines also let a court impute income to someone who lives in a country with significantly lower effective income tax rates than Canada’s, because the same pay can leave that person with more money.
When you are divorced and the other parent is in Canada
Former spouses who live in different provinces have a separate tool. Sections 18.1 to 19.1 of the Divorce Act let a former spouse start an application for support, or for a change to a Divorce Act support order, from their own province. Ontario uses Forms A.3 and A.4 for these cases. The forms can only be used if you are divorced and the other person lives in Canada.
If you are not sure whether your order was made under the Divorce Act or the Family Law Act, look at its wording or ask the court. An order in a divorce case typically says so. This choice can have practical effects, and it is the sort of question where a brief consultation may be useful.
Enforcing an order you already have
An order is only as good as your ability to collect on it. The steps differ depending on where the order came from and where the parent lives.
Your order is from Ontario and the parent has moved elsewhere in Canada or to a reciprocating country. If it is with FRO, tell the office about the move and any new address or employer right away. FRO can ask the authority in the other jurisdiction to register and enforce the order there. That authority then has its own enforcement tools.
Your order is from another province or territory, and the parent or you live here. Generally, the order must be registered in an Ontario court, after which it goes to FRO automatically. Orders made under the Divorce Act are different: they do not need Ontario registration and can be sent directly to FRO.
Your order was made outside Canada, and the payor lives in Ontario. The order must be registered in an Ontario court. The parties receive notice, and a party has 30 days after receiving notice to bring a motion to set the registration aside. If you get a notice like this, read it the day it arrives. A court can refuse registration or send the matter for a hearing only on limited grounds, and this short window is your opportunity to raise them. Foreign amounts are converted to Canadian dollars at the exchange rate on the registration date.
Your agreement is not a court order. Some jurisdictions will not enforce private agreements. The province specifically warns that Quebec requires a court-issued order and does not enforce separation agreements or other domestic contracts. If your only document is a signed agreement and the other parent has moved to Quebec, expect to need a court order first.
The Hague Convention route
Ontario also participates in the 2007 Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support. It took effect for Canada, and for Ontario, on February 1, 2024, and it lets parents establish, change and enforce support decisions with other contracting countries through a system of central authorities. It has its own forms, including an Application for Establishment of a Decision, an Application for Modification of a Decision, and a Financial Circumstances Form. The province asks people with these cases to contact FRO, which can tell you whether the other parent’s country is included.
The United States and other special cases
A few situations have their own wrinkles:
United States. All states are reciprocating jurisdictions for enforcement, but changing an Ontario order when one parent is in the U.S. works differently because of the American concept of continuing exclusive jurisdiction. The province recommends legal advice for these cases.
Provisional orders. Some jurisdictions require a two-step procedure, where a court here makes a temporary order that has no legal effect until a court in the other place confirms it. The province’s list has included Australia (for spousal support only), Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Quebec, New Zealand and South Africa.
Countries with no arrangement. If the parent lives somewhere that has no reciprocal arrangement with Ontario, the ISO process is not available. An order may still be obtainable here if an Ontario court has jurisdiction, for example by serving the parent abroad properly, but collecting on it could mean hiring a lawyer in that country. Many Peel families have ties to places where the position is not obvious, so do not assume either way. Ask FRO, and check with a lawyer before spending money. Assets the parent still holds in Ontario, such as land or a bank account, may also offer a practical way to collect.
Changing the amount across a border
Support orders are not frozen. The parent who is paying may lose a job in Calgary, or the parent receiving support may learn that the other’s income has doubled. The ISO process has a variation form (Form A.2), and the Divorce Act process has its own (Form A.4). Both generally require evidence of a change in circumstances and up-to-date financial information.
Several points are worth stressing.
Until an order is changed, it remains enforceable. A payor who moves to a lower-paying job elsewhere should not simply start paying less. Arrears can continue to build while the paperwork is pending, and the process can take a long time.
Respond if you are served. A parent in Brampton who gets a notice of hearing under the Family Law Rules generally has 30 days to file an answer, an affidavit and a financial statement. Ignoring it could lead to an order made without your input.
Keep your own records of payments, including exchange rates and any payments made directly to the other parent. These can be hard to reconstruct when you are looking back over several years and across two currencies.
Practical steps for Brampton parents
- Collect what you know about the other parent. Full legal name, date of birth, last known address, employer, and social media or relatives that might help someone find them.
- Find your documents. Bring the order or agreement, proof of the child’s birth, any proof of parentage if that is in question, and payment records.
- Gather your financial information. Pay stubs, your most recent income tax return and notice of assessment, and receipts for child care or medical expenses that you want to claim.
- Get translations if you need them. Documents in a language other than English or French may need to be translated, and foreign courts may have their own requirements.
- Allow for time. These cases run through two systems, and sometimes two languages. Set your expectations accordingly and follow up in writing.
- Keep your address current with FRO. A parent who cannot be reached may see a case stall.
FRO’s Interjurisdictional Support Orders Unit can explain the forms, but it does not act as your lawyer. Legal advice may be especially useful where parentage is disputed, the other parent is self-employed abroad, property in Ontario could be used to collect, or a foreign order has arrived and the 30-day clock has started. You can learn more about how orders are set on our child and spousal support page. If you would like to work out which route applies to you, you can also contact the office.