Toronto man owes $350,000 in child support to dying woman

When Tjally Heino wakes up in the morning, she feels like both her body and spirit are breaking.

The 42-year-old mother’s bones are riddled with terminal cancer, making getting out of bed extremely painful. But her struggle is also emotional: how can she face another day without support for her kids?

Heino and her two children live in Victoria, B.C. Her ex-husband, John “Timothy” Jackson, is believed to live in Toronto and owes her $354,000 in child support payments for Emily, 15, and Ari, 7.

“They are broken-hearted,” said a weak-voiced Heino. “Both birthdays, they cried themselves to sleep.”

Doctors have given Heino two years to live. She fears she will die before tracking down Jackson, who has barely spoken to his kids or paid any support since July 2011.

Jackson, 43, did not reply to emails sent by the Star to what is believed to be an active account. According to Heino, he sent an email to his daughter last weekend wishing his son a happy birthday — a month late.

Members of his family said they believe he is suffering from addiction and they do not know his phone number or address.

“This is a terrible story of mental illness resulting from drug addiction. I do not know if he’s alive,” said his father, Garth Jackson. “I hope he’s managing and I hope he’s winning the battle. I have no idea whether he is or not.”

He said he believed his son’s addiction began with prescription painkillers about eight years ago. He said Jackson was laid off from Rogers Communications in late 2011 and he did not know where he had worked since, if at all.

He said the last time he saw his son was during a brief visit in April, when he seemed “all right” and appeared to have a job. At that time, Jackson said he could not pay child support because his bank account had been frozen by a court order.

His brother, Greg Jackson, said he believed Jackson was so ill he was incapable of working or paying child support. He said his brother has no regular contact with anyone — friends, family or his children.

“It’s been an awful experience for everyone. These kids are going to be parentless, because Tim is in no position to be a father,” he said. “I’m without a brother, and my parents have lost a son.”

Ontario’s Family Responsibility Office (FRO), which is responsible for enforcing child support orders when the payor lives in Ontario, refused to answer questions directly about Heino’s case due to privacy legislation.

However, a ministry spokeswoman said the office does not freeze bank accounts, although it can initiate bank garnishments to seize funds. She assured the Star that it had taken enforcement action in Heino’s case.

“While we have tough enforcement tools at our disposal, the reality is that some parents will go to great lengths to avoid paying,” said Charlotte Wilkinson of the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

Heino’s lawyer, Rick Sanderson, said the FRO had placed a lien on a piece of Jackson’s property, cancelled his passport and enforced a federal garnish on any taxes he is paid back by the government.

But Sanderson questioned whether the office — which is working with B.C. Family Maintenance on Heino’s case — was doing enough.

“If the government of Ontario and the government of B.C. can’t find this guy, then how much effort are they really putting into it?” he asked. “That’s the $354,000 question.”

In 2011, Heino contacted B.C. Family Maintenance, which sent the support order to Ontario for enforcement. The order, made in 2007 and based on Jackson’s income, requires him to pay $6,800 a month.

Documents show that Jackson was already more than $144,000 in arrears by July 2011, and did not pay any support for the remainder of that year or in 2012 or 2013. He now owes $354,167.88.

Wilkinson said the FRO was using every resource at its disposal to ensure payments were made. She added that the office continues to enforce child support orders after a recipient dies.

Sadly, Heino’s story is extreme but not unheard of. Parents in Ontario owe $2 billion in unpaid child support, up $500 million in the past four years, according to the FRO.

In fact, Ontario’s ombudsman André Marin received more complaints last year about the FRO than any other Ontario agency. His office received 794 complaints about the FRO, including 30 complaints about inter-jurisdictional arrears, according to his annual report.

Meanwhile, Heino receives $1,050 a month in government assistance, which doesn’t quite cover her rent of $1,150. Her parents, in their 70s, pay for all her children’s food, clothing and other needs.

Her close-knit community in Oak Bay, Victoria, has recently rallied around the family and pitched in to help — bringing fresh produce, walking the kids to school or offering to drive Heino to her hospital appointments.

“This community is unlike any other community I’ve ever been in,” said Heino. “At the same time, I think these people would rather live their lives.”

She said her kids are trying to be brave. Emily has “grown up fast,” helping her mom and little brother around the house, said Heino. But her young son, Ari, still asks all the time why his father does not love him.

“It’s really brutal for them both. They cry all the time about their father not being here,” said Heino. “Their world has been ripped apart.”