A retroactive support order allows a recipient parent to obtain child support from the payor parent for a period prior to the date of the order. That is, the child support payments that have not been made by the payor parent in the past.
The law relating to retroactive support payments is reviewed and discussed in the recent Green v. Monah, Ontario Court of Justice decision. Retroactive orders are generally made from the date on which the recipient gives the payor a notice of seeking support payments.
In Green v. Monah, the court cited the monumental Supreme Court of Canada decision on this issue, namely, D.B.S. v. S.R.G.; Laura Jean W. v. Tracy Alfred R.; Henry v. Henry; Hiemstra v. Hiemstra, 2006 SCC 37 (CanLII).
D.B.S. outlines the factors that are taken into account when retroactive applications are dealt with:
| 1. | Reasonable excuse for why support was not considered earlier by the recipient; | |
| 2. | Conduct of the payor parent; | |
| 3. | Circumstances of the child; and | |
| 4. | Hardship occasioned by the retroactive order. |
The court explained that these four factors shall not be seen as individually decisive and should instead be considered in a global analysis. Furthermore, the relevant circumstances surrounding a case must be considered in making a fair and flexible analysis.
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc/2015/2015oncj368/2015oncj368.html?autocompleteStr=Green%20v.%20Monah&autocompletePos=1