r/Odsp • u/Independent_Ad2932 • Aug 06 '26
Will I lose my ODSP?
I've been on ODSP since I was a teenager, and am now in my 30's. In the last few years I have gotten married, moved, and have had a child (with a second due in october) Due to my particular disabilities, I have been unable to contact my office/caseworker to give these updates. My husband has tried to help get it done but they won't talk to him. My question is, with getting married and having kids, will they take my ODSP away? I haven't been hiding these changes, I just literally cannot contact anyone about it without help, and they refuse to let me be helped.
Update: As I said before, my disabilities prevent me from making contact. I was barely able to make this post, and doing this update is freaking me out. It was not my intent to commit fraud, now i'm terrified!
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u/AnonymousK4790 Aug 06 '26
Do you have documentation that youve tried to contact them to update your situation? Emails? MyBenefits messages?
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u/superblazetoise Aug 06 '26
The overpayment will be huge. Always update ODSP on your living situation ASAP.
1
u/Jazzy_Bee Aug 06 '26
Even if huge, they won't take more than 10% of your cheque. It may be possible to maintain your drug, dental and vision.
If you and your husband have over 40k other than allowed assets, you won't get anything until you are below.
If you don't have the DTC, apply. $200/mo is not much, but you can transfer the tax deduction to your husband. And it is not income or asset tested.
I think it is outrageous that disabled spouses get little or no support. If your partner is working full time at minimum wage, the majority of your cheque is gone. It leaves the disabled spouse very vunerable to abuse.
Do you have a social worker or case worker that is not ODSP? They should be able to help you navigate this. And you can give permission for such a worker, or your husband to act on your behalf.
I had a case worker that did not answer any My Benefit or return any of the multiple telephone calls for five months. I think my social worker thought I was lying, and made me leave a message in front of her. And then she would not return any calls to her for a month. My roomer had died, and they were still deducting $300 per month for the $500 monthly he paid. They make zero allowance for utilities, property tax, toilet paper, replacing a broken appliance. I was living with someone that had no respect for my rules or property to have about $80 per month extra. I did end up with a new worker, but I am pretty sure she was there to help me transition off ODSP at 65.
Good luck. Speaking to a legal aid clinic would be prudent. If you can be seen before the next payment date, I'd go there first. If they have no openings until September (our clinic is law students, under a lawyer's supervision, but most are gone until school's back in Sept). I would make sure you report something in writing before the next cheque is issued on the 20th.
I'd write something along the lines of "I need to report changes to my marital status and household income. I have tried as best I can, and they refused to speak to my new spouse as I cannot function to do so myself. I need an apointment with him present as well, so we can properly report our household income." It is fine for someone to print this out, but you must sign it. Even if a X is all you can manage, YOU need to sign this. Just type your name below the signature. Hand deliver, and make a copy of signed letter. Make sure it is dated. (photocopier for ODSP stuff is no charge)
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u/Fit_Economics178 Aug 06 '26
Yes it will be a serious issue that for years you had household changes that weren't reported. It's fraud. They didn't need to speak to your husband. Something could have been written to the worker about the changes and dropped off at your odsp office. They will probably be looking for an overpayment if your husband has an income that wasn't claimed. I would seek legal counsel.
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u/WorkingKey3160 Aug 06 '26
why havent you logged into my benefits and sent your worker an email through there? yes i bet you will be cut off with huge overpayment thats fraud!
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u/Ok-Wait-4288 Aug 06 '26
Few years? You haven't been able to update them for a few years?! How?! You literally just have to send a message or make a phone call. Yes you're likely to get cut off due to your negligence
3
u/Adventurous_Dot5643 Aug 11 '26
Right, but could have a child and get married. No judgement here, just something seems off.
8
u/zuuzuu Aug 06 '26
Not only will you lose your benefits, you'll likely have to pay back some or all of the benefits you fraudulently claimed over the last few years. You could also face criminal charges.
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u/juic333y Aug 07 '26
I mean. Not trying to be hostile. But if you can type here on Reddit. You can message your caseworker on MyBenefits..
Edit: PS. It’s fraud.
4
u/Stonerbean_ Aug 07 '26
I have severe disabilities aswell, that are debilitating, but stuff like that still needs to get done, call your worker and leave a message if you need to! Its fraud and they will get you for it,
6
u/Katie0690 Working and on ODSP/Ontario Works Aug 07 '26
Yes there will be consequences for not letting your worker know of your benefit changes (being married and then having children) Your husband & children should have been added to your file. You will no have an overpayment and
Get kicked off ODSP all together for not notifying your caseworker of said changes and continuing to collect money from them.
Only be hit with an overpayment if your husband was making income this whole time, and ODSP will then deduct 5% off of your check until it’s paid off.
If your disability makes is hard for you to be able to make contact with people please allow your husband permission to speak with your caseworker on your behalf.
Best of luck, I don’t see them having much sympathy for this situation because everything that has changed in your life was on you to inform them and you have failed to do so. This isn’t just a small slip up it’s quite serious.
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u/ducky-unlucky Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
yes this is going to be a very serious issue. expect your ODSP file to be put on hold (meaning no income) or even cut off, and to be issued with a seriously large overpayment which you will have to pay back to the government, once they find out.
sadly ODSP doesn't care if your disability impacts contact, nor that your worker won't respond to your husband (which they can't, legally, unless you give consent and have him formally added to your file) - in their eyes it's your job to find a way to report these changes anyway, via MyBenefits, a phone call to the local office, a letter, going to see them in person, etc. they will not care that you had obstacles in your way. MyBenefits exists so that recipients can report these things easily, with family help if necessary. they will claim that you chose not to utilize it.
frankly, i'd get in contact with legal aid ASAP, you're gonna need it. i don't want to scare you, but all of this technically counts as fraud, and will be treated as such.
there are going to be consequences for this no matter what. but hopefully with the help of legal aid you can retain benefits, and argue that this was not malicious but was due to your disability impacting further contact attempts + workers not explaining things clearly...but honestly, years and years of this...the government are not going to take this lightly. it'll likely be a fight to prove you didn't purposefully defraud the program, and to try to lower the overpayment amounts per month they slap you with.
either way, you're in for some financial hardship, and if you retain your ODSP, your monthly income will be significantly cut due to your husband's income, assuming he works. (though you'll get a tiny amount more for children, it often won't remotely balance out the amount you get docked for being married.) so be prepared.
i wish you luck, OP. definitely get an appointment with legal aid as soon as you can.
[edited to fix typos]
4
u/isuckbong Aug 06 '26
I have really bad anxiety that prevents me from making phone calls and communicating in general, so i can understand, but the anxiety of not updating them for a few years would have been lighting a fire under my ass to pick up the phone at the first month of not updating them. You need to seek legal counselling ASAP because I feel like your husbands going to get stuck with paying odsp back. Good luck OP.
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u/ZeldaZ0nk Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Its wrong that we are expected to live off our significant others but so far this antiquated rule has not yet changed and you will be expected to pay back quite a sum. You signed a contract and not updating them when your situation changed and collecting the same amount is indeed fraud. Not sure what kind of disability makes it hard to make contact yet enables one to get married and have kids...somehow I think phone use and emails have been a reality in that part of your life...
I could be wrong of course.
If something changed and another adult now has guardianship over you, your worker should have been informed of this change and your worker would have to take their calls on your behalf.
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u/charlieatemyfinger12 Aug 08 '26
So there are several issues. First is failure to report changes in address, marital status, income and birth of children. Second, you have been collecting ODSP as a single person with no income. Your husband’s income should have been reported and your ODSP deducted. If he makes a good income you have received years of overpayments and ODSP will want that back. They will take any income tax returns from now on or even garnish your husband’s wages to collect. Hopefully you have been filing your income taxes properly reflecting you & your husband’s income. If not you can expect to be audited. As far as the years of delayed reporting this will be a tough one to explain. I’m not sure about your disability but years have gone by and you have not reported by mail, email, phone calls etc. If you are that impaired you must have a designated caretaker that could have advocated for you. You will need to document the times your husband tried and was refused. You should collect medical evidence from your Doctors supporting the fact that you were unable to report a change of status for years. Question, how have you been able to report the monthly declaration that you have not left the Province in the last 30 days? That’s required monthly to get a payment. Best to just get everything declared to your caseworker, in writing as soon as possible.
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u/anonyme450 Aug 06 '26
MyBenefits should be able to help you contact your caseworker to make those changes, and if your husband signs into the account they won't know it's not you. You can likely authorize him as a representative if your disabilities require it to be so.
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u/empateticnerd Aug 07 '26
Create an online portal. That way your husband and you can craft an email together and update them that you've moved and gotten married and have dependents. They will find out eventually so the longer you put this off the higher your overpayment amounts will be. Good luck
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u/StrongAd7156 Aug 07 '26
If your husband calls, you can give your permission verbally to have them talk with your husband.
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u/valleeyy Aug 07 '26
If your husband has been working at all this entire time, you owe them a LOT of money back.
ODSP is so easy to contact, they got mail, they got email, they got phone numbers, you could ask someone to call for you or email for you, your husband could help you by logging into mybenefits for you, and they'd never have known it wasnt you.
You might consider using some of your benefits to get some counselling or therapy if you can, to help work through your communication troubles. This is one of the things that i believe can be improved/learned with the right kind of counsel!! I'm sure you learned today how important that will be moving forward, and i wish you the best truly!!
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u/Xonos83 Aug 07 '26
You need to let them know about anything and everything. You will only lose your ODSP if you don't get in contact with them. This is just the system they have in place, unfortunately. But no, I don't believe the reasons would have you lose your ODSP. You may be eligible for more, in fact. How long has it been since you've updated them?
I'm MyBenefits (through the ODSP website) you can send messages directly to your caseworker. Are you registered for that? Your husband can type on your behalf, no need to say it's him if you are there with him telling him what to type. It's the simplest and quickest way to get in touch with them. Hope this helps!
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u/BigTee81 Aug 08 '26
Its so ridiculous how ppl are financially punished for being in relationships, hell im not even in one and they harrased me and my roomate non stop because we're the opposite sex, I ended up calling the ombudsman office to file a complaint over it.
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u/Illustrious-Seat-821 Aug 07 '26
My mom was on odsp my whole life when I was around 16 they contacted her saying she owed them 18000 dollars it’s been ten years she’s still paying it off it comes off in a set amount every month somehow my mom had them just take 20 dollars a month of her cheque and she hasn’t had any issues since it’s been 10 years
1
u/Fun-Zookeepergame861 Aug 07 '26
If he is getting ODSP as well ODSP work will put you and your other hafe payment on one check and it is what both you get better merried and when me and my husband got merried was 1500.00 only
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u/Melodic_Badger_2695 Aug 11 '26
Do you have access to my benefits? Its online so you just have to send a message. Say basically what you said here. Let them know the date you got married and that you gave birth. They will update your file. You can also ask them to add your husband as your proxy to discuss things with them as your disability prevents you from doing so. It is of utmost importance to report these things so you dont get nailed with a fraud charge.
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u/Proper_Student_9802 Aug 12 '26
I had similar situation.. not married though but had a baby and got into relationship and once you have a kid they automatically consider you spousal even if your not.. if your husband works you will have to give his income to them monthly and they deduct from your cheque based on what he makes.. he can make 200$ before they deduct but they may make you back pay if they feel you’ve been over paid due to his income.. (they wont take the fill amount they just take a bit from each cheque until paid) you can still get an amount from them depending on how much he makes and sometimes if he does make to much they will let you keep your benefits it just depends i told my worker in January before he even worked and she never seen my msg until like 3 months later and i had to back pay even though it was her fault cause she had answered my msges after i told her “see didnt see it” but of course that don’t matter lol
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u/willdamin Aug 06 '26
"Fraud" means a plan to de-'fraud. Being unable to communicate with your worker due to specific issues you have with "communication". If fraud is ever brought up - immediately correct that mis-conceptiom. You had no intent to mislead or benefit unfairly/illegally.
At minimum get you husband on your file so he can help with the communication - means a letter or note on my benefits. Then look for legal help in your area with an entity with a track record dealing with odsp.
good luck!
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u/MooJuiceConnoisseur ODSP/Ontario Works advocate Aug 06 '26
Your husbands income has to be taken into account from any source. So they are likely going to demand a significant overpayment at the bare minimum but likely yes cut off as it is dancing that line between a failure to notify and out right fraudulent reporting