Family Responsibility Office

Otherwise known as FRO, the Family Responsibility Office to the beginner can be somewhat intimidating. I must admit that when I first became involved with FRO I was nervous and had some anxiety. Coming from a profession in which, in my opinion, 75% of the officers are involved in their 2nd or 3rd relationship and so the stories, horror stories that is, that I have heard made me very fearful of what being involved with FRO would mean.

My first divorce was a cake walk. My second, not so much...lol. The judgement was that I pay my ex spouse upwards of $1600 a month which was based on my salary at the time of around $65,000. This amount was both spousal and child support. Now I could go on and on about how I was screwed, but I won't. I will simply say I was screwed. Focusing on FRO and the amount of money I was to pay my ex, this is how it works. The individual who is awarded the support has the option of having FRO involved or not. In my case my ex chose to go through FRO. After the judgement and the papers are sent off to FRO, a file and case number is then created. FRO advises the payer not to pay the recipient any money during this set up period. This period of time usually takes up to three months. I would recommend that even though you are not paying the money during the setup period, you should at least set aside this money, because it is expected that you will be paying that money once the file creation is completed. Once this is done, you can then make your payment to FRO monthly. This can be done just as you would pay a bill online. FRO states that the payment is due on the first of every month, however, I always wait until the end of the month to collect the interest. As long as the money is paid no later than the last day of the month, FRO cannot penalize you or take any kind of action against you. I should also state that FRO provided me with that tip. FRO will also send you a letter telling you are in arrears the money that you didn't pay during the set up of the case file. This isn't a problem if you put that money aside like I stated earlier. If you didn't put that money aside, well then you can expect another letter from FRO weeks later asking you how you would like to pay back your arrears. Keep in mind that the recipient will be the catalyst of every letter you receive from FRO regarding arrears. The recipient usually tells FRO she hasn't gotten money and as such, FRO advises the recipient to fill out the proper paper work. Once this is done and sent to FRO, FRO will then take the appropriate actions to get that money.

Initially I was against my ex going through FRO because I was never late with money and always proudly paid on time. So I took it that by her going through FRO that this was indeed a slap in the face. However, after having time to get used to the idea and realizing that it actually protects my interests, has much as her interests, I gladly paid FRO. The added benefit is that I never had to deal with my ex about money. I also came to realize that FRO simply goes by the most recent information they have in the file. In other words, most recent court order, future court dates etc.

If you have cause to change the support amount, etc, then I recommend you file a motion. During this time if you have been laid off, sick etc and cannot afford the support, or whatever your reasoning and you have filed the motion, so long as you keep FRO updated on future court dates, it is very unlikely they will impose any kind of penalty. But don't think for a moment that you can ignore them or run from them, because if you do you will only be sorry. Make every effort to pay. 

So in conclusion, FRO is good and can work in your favor. Just don't be afraid to file that motion if you need to. It can be time consuming and frustrating, but it is worth it in the end.