Son’s Canadian father refuses to support him

Q: Dear Mrs Macaulay,

My son is 17 years old. His father resides in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He migrated when my son was two years old and since then he has sent money to him now and again. I have tried on numerous occasions to get him to take care of his child without success. When he was in Jamaica I took him to the Family Court and the court ordered him to pay child support which he started to do but since he migrated he stopped. I visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they told me that there is nothing that they can do as Jamaica has reciprocal agreement with only some provinces of Canada. They sent me to the Canadian High Commission. A rep there told me that she is unable to assist me as I do not have an address for him. I have only a telephone number and a photograph, as he is on Facebook. She said she was unable to assist me. Whenever I call him or his son calls him he gives a lot of attitude, saying he is dying for my son to reach 18 so we can stop bothering him. He said that he is a Canadian citizen and there is nothing that Jamaica can do to him.

I am unable to work as I am sick. I am also unable to afford a lawyer.

A: I note that you have in place a Maintenance Order directed to the father by the Family Court which is still in force. You, however, say that the father obeyed the court order for the maintenance of his son only for a short time before he migrated to Canada after which he ceased making any payments pursuant to the order. You also say that he migrated when your son was two years old,

One must conclude therefore that the maintenance sum is quite inadequate because the order of the court related to a child of two years and not a teenager.

You do not seem to have ever applied to vary the order as the years passed and your son became older, which you were entitled to do on your son’s behalf.

I must say that I am surprised that you did not go back to the Family Court which made the order and seek their assistance to pursue him. It is the court which normally works with the ministry to seek to enforce its orders in other countries and they should be able to inform you whether Canada and its states have any reciprocal arrangements with Jamaica.

I note that you did not ask the Canadians to assist you to check their telephone directories for the town in which he resides. I am assuming that as he emigrated so many years ago that it is a landline number which you have. If so, he ought to be listed in the telephone directory. Usually, the information sections of embassies and high commissions have the telephone directories available for use by people who need to search them. Such directories may in fact also be accessed online. Perhaps you can try this.

The most important thing is for you to have an address for him which you can take to the Family Court to do three things. The first is to apply for a default summons to be issued against him for his arrears. The second is for you to file an application for a variation of the maintenance sum in the order to a higher one. The third is for you to apply as long as your son is still studying or pursuing a course of training and intends to continue to do so after his 18th birthday, to extend the maintenance order to provide for him during his years of study or training until he completes his undergraduate degree or until he becomes 23 years old, whichever is sooner.

The dad’s boast that he is a Canadian citizen and that there is nothing that Jamaica can do to him is just that, a boast. He is in any event a dual citizen as he is a Jamaican also. The point is not his citizenship but where he resides — his address — so that he can be served. This determines whether or not orders of our courts are enforceable there.

The position is governed by The Judgements and Awards (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act, which basically provides that orders of superior English courts are enforceable in Jamaica as would be those of Jamaica’s superior courts in the United Kingdom and in this circumstance can be extended to Commonwealth countries by a directive of the governor general.

It seems to me therefore that the most important thing you should find out is his address. Claims are filed and served all the time against people living abroad following orders for such service by the court.

So please try and find out his address and go to the Family Court before your son becomes 18 years old and seek to have him served in Canada. It would then be for him to decide if he will defend it or not, whereupon when service is proved you ought to be able to get your orders in default of his failure to appear and contest your claim. You will have your judgement and orders and six years to collect them.

If there is no reciprocal arrangement with where he resides, then he had better not ever come to Jamaica as you can then get the bailiff to move to execute the judgement and orders.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver. com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.