What can you do if the other party is not following a Court Order?
Many people believe that if they have a Court Order, and the other party is disobeying that Order, their only recourse is to bring a contempt motion. This is not true. The Family Law Rules provide a plethora of enforcement steps that one can take to address the other party’s failure to follow a Court Order. This is Part I of an article series that will explore the options for enforcing an Order.
Enforcement of Court Orders is a complicated and challenging area of law. While the courts are not consistent in terms of what steps a party is expected to take to enforce an Order, what are they consistent with is reiterating that contempt motions are a “last resort”. The law also says that a party can look to enforcement steps outside of the Family Law Rules. For the purposes of this article series, I will be focusing on the Family Law Rules alone.
Which document is enforceable?
Typically, the Court will provide an Endorsement following a court appearance where an Order has been made. The law says that the Order is effective as of the date it is made – meaning the date of the Endorsement. However, while the Endorsement is an Order, it is not the issued formal version of the Order. The issued Order will be required to take enforcement steps, so the first step in addressing the breach of any Order is to ensure that the issued Order has been received from the court. A party who tries to take enforcement steps with only the Endorsement will likely have their material rejected by the court (speaking from experience).
Where do you take your enforcement steps?
The Family Law Rules set out the guidelines for where to take enforcement steps. Rule 26 points to Rule 5:
Rule 5(5) says that if the Order being enforced is a “payment order”, then the enforcement steps must take place:
(a) in the municipality where the recipient resides;
(b) if the recipient does not reside in Ontario, in the municipality where the order is filed with the court for enforcement; or
(c) if the person enforcing the order so chooses, in the municipality where the payor resides
Rule 5(6) says that if the Order being enforced is an order “other than a payment order”, then the enforcement steps must take place:
(a) if the order involves decision-making responsibility, parenting time or contact with respect to a child,
(i) in the municipality where the child habitually resides, or
(ii) if the child does not habitually reside in Ontario, in the municipality to which the child has the closest connection;
(b) if the order involves property, in the municipality where the person enforcing the order resides or the municipality where the property is located; or
(c) in a municipality chosen by all parties, but only with the court’s permission given in advance in that municipality.
Rule 5(7) says that if the Order is being enforced by a contempt motion (and is therefore an order “other than a payment order”), then the Order may be enforced in the municipality in which the Order was made.
Lastly, Rule 5(8) offers an alternative and says that if it is substantially more convenient to deal with a case or any step in the case in another municipality, the court may on motion order that the case or step be transferred there. This gives parties the ability to bring a motion to request that a case (or a step in the case) be transferred to another jurisdiction, provided it is substantially more convenient to deal with the matter there. In cases where a lengthy period of time has passed between the date of the Order and the date that enforcement steps are taken, changes may have occurred to the parties’ living situations which may make this subrule an appropriate avenue to consider.
This article series will examine the 3 common categories of Orders that may need to be enforced, and how the Family Law Rules addresses them:
1. Support Orders (i.e. child or spousal support orders);
2. Other payment Orders (i.e. costs awards or equalization payment orders); and
3. Non-payment Orders (i.e. parenting or disclosure orders).
Stay tuned for Part II of this series.
Written by Danielle Sawh, Founder and Principal Lawyer
Published: November 5, 2026