Can I Stop Paying Spousal Support Because My Ex Is Working Again in Ontario?

Not on your own. Only a court can change a support order. Whether support can end turns on whether your ex has become self-sufficient and on what your order or agreement says, and courts decide this individually.

A recipient must make reasonable efforts to contribute to their own support, and courts can impute income, commonly minimum wage, to a recipient who is not making them. Once a recipient becomes self-sufficient, support can be terminated, but the decision is individualized and courts often decide 'not yet', reducing support or setting a future end date instead.

A court can vary, rescind or suspend a support order, retroactively or prospectively. Under the Divorce Act, before varying a spousal support order, the court must be satisfied that either former spouse's circumstances have changed since the order or the last variation. A variation requires a material change in circumstances, while a review is more like an initial application. Under the Divorce Act, if support was for a definite period or until a specified event, a court cannot resume it unless a variation is needed to relieve economic hardship from a related change and the changed circumstances would likely have produced a different original order. Get advice before you reduce any payments.