Motion to Change Child Support After Job Loss in Ontario

Losing a job is stressful enough without wondering what happens to a child support order you can no longer afford. Many payors assume that once the paycheque stops, the support obligation adjusts itself — it doesn't. If your income has genuinely dropped, Ontario law gives you a path to ask a court to lower it, but you have to take a specific, formal step to get there: a motion to change child support after job loss.

This guide explains why you can't simply reduce your payments on your own, what you need to show a court, and what tends to happen to the existing order while your motion works its way through the system.

Why You Can't Just Stop Paying

Child support is legally the right of the child, not a favour owed to the other parent, and it's treated as a completely separate issue from parenting time. That means a parent who loses their job can't lawfully decide, on their own, to pay less — or to stop paying — no matter how sympathetic the reason. The existing order or agreement stays fully enforceable, including through the Family Responsibility Office (FRO), until a court, or a properly filed new agreement, actually changes it.

If your support is enforced through FRO, arrears keep accumulating at the original amount for every month you pay less than ordered, even if your job loss is genuine and temporary. That's the core reason to act quickly rather than wait and see.

What a "Motion to Change" Actually Is

A motion to change is the standard family court process used to ask a judge to vary an existing final support or parenting order, rather than starting an entirely new case from scratch. It's brought within the same court file or system as your original order and asks the court to look at your changed circumstances and adjust the support amount going forward.

Bringing a motion to change doesn't pause your existing obligation. Until a judge grants a new order — or you and the other parent sign a new agreement — the old amount remains what's legally owed.

Proving a Material Change in Circumstances

Courts don't revisit support amounts just because a payor wants a lower number. You need to show a genuine, significant change in your financial circumstances since the last order was made — something more than a short-term dip. A job loss can qualify, but the strength of your case usually depends on:

• Whether the job loss was involuntary and outside your control
• How long you've been out of work, and how realistic your re-employment prospects look
• What you're actively doing to find comparable work or replace the lost income
• Whether your income has genuinely dropped, as opposed to being voluntarily reduced or hidden

A court is generally far more sympathetic to a parent who was laid off and is actively job-hunting than to one who quit voluntarily or appears deliberately underemployed.

What to Gather Before You File

Supporting your motion well from the start avoids unnecessary delay. Expect to need:

• [ ] A completed, sworn financial statement showing your current income and expenses
• [ ] Proof of the job loss, such as a termination letter or record of employment
• [ ] Records of your job search or retraining efforts
• [ ] Recent pay stubs or income records from before and after the job loss
• [ ] Any severance, employment insurance, or other replacement income you're receiving
• [ ] A copy of the existing support order or agreement

Temporary Relief vs. a Longer-Term Change

A judge can order an interim, temporary change while the full motion is still working its way through the court, which can help if your case is going to take a while to resolve.

What Happens to Arrears While You Wait

Support that falls due before your motion is decided is generally still owed at the original rate, and FRO can continue enforcing it, including wage garnishment, bank account garnishment, and licence suspension in cases of ongoing default. A court has some ability to address arrears that built up during a genuine change in circumstances, but that outcome isn't guaranteed and depends heavily on your specific facts. That's one more reason not to simply wait and hope the issue resolves itself.

Frequently asked questions