Get information about COVID-19 in Ontario, including financial support and services.

Paying and receiving support

Support payors must continue to make payments as per their court order. Tell us right away if your circumstances change and we will work with you. For example, contact us if your place of work closed or you have been laid off.

  • we continue to garnish Employment Insurance and GST/HST credit payments, as needed
  • temporary school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic do not meet the criteria to end child support

Support recipients will receive payments as we receive them. If we do not receive payments, we will take the appropriate actions to get payments flowing.

Getting information and contacting FRO

Clients can access case information 24/7 using FRO Online and by calling FRO for automated information. You need to call us and speak with an agent to sign up for FRO Online if you do not have access.

You can securely send us documents using FRO Online.

You can also still mail us payments and documents.

We continue to register cases for support orders.

Our process has not changed for withdrawing from FRO.

Employers and other income sources

You must continue to deduct support from a payor’s income and send it to us. Contact us if your business closes or the payor stops receiving income from you due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can also mail or fax us a letter stating:

  • your business has closed
  • the expected time period for re-opening (if applicable)
  • the payor’s name and case number

Once your business resumes, you would start deducting again.

Special or extraordinary expenses

We continue to process special or extraordinary expense claims, also known as “section 7” expenses in a child support order. For example, these expenses can include expenses for sports and music lessons. Contact us if you have further questions about these expenses on your support order.

Legal documents and court operations

Getting Statements of Arrears and claims of section 7 expenses commissioned: We still need these documents to be commissioned for us to process them. Some lawyers and paralegals are now able to commission documents virtually. Please speak with a lawyer or paralegal to see if they can help you with this.

Legal service on FRO: Legal documents for any proceeding that is required to be served on the Director of the FRO can be served by mail, fax or email. Learn more about serving FRO.

Attending court: If you have a court date with the Director of FRO, please contact the court directly for updated information about the court’s availability and any steps you will need to follow. You can get information online about the court locations in Ontario.