Last fall, after an Ontario judge awarded his ex-wife spousal and child support of nearly $4,000 a month, Hans Mills, an education software expert with extensive work contacts in Southeast Asia, sent Donna Mills an email telling her he had left Canada for good.
“The result of the legal instrument which you recently designed and implemented is that there is no possibility of a comfortable life or a (secure) retirement for me in Canada at all,” Mills, 53, wrote in the email dated November 2, 2011. “Therefore I have left the country to seek greener pastures elsewhere, and will never return. Well done Einstein.”
“Good luck and goodbye.”
With that missive sent from an unknown location, Mills joined the more than 120,000 parents in Ontario who are in arrears on spousal and child support payments. Collectively, they owe more than $1.8 billion to ex-wives and children.
The Star tracked Hans Mills to the Philippines. From his hideaway on the outskirts of Manila, Mills says he knows what he did is wrong. He blames a “broken” Family Court system that pushed him to the brink of ruin for his decision to cut and run.
“I did a terrible, awful thing, because I had no reasonable option,” Mills says of his decision to flee and stop making spousal and child support payments. “I miss my children terribly. I abandoned Canada, but not my children. My hope is that some day I can reconcile with my children, but not in Canada . . . a morally bankrupt state.
At the time he absconded, Hans Mills was under court order to pay his ex-wife, Donna Mills, $2,235 per month for the support of their children and $1,537 a month for spousal support. He also had been hit with substantial retroactive payments and ordered to pay his ex-wife’s legal costs.
He is adamant about two things — he will “never, ever, ever, ever” pay spousal support, and he will never return to Canada.
He left behind an ex-wife who says she is unable to work due to onerous family responsibilities — looking after four kids, three of whom have substantial medical needs, especially Steven, who has just finished two years of cancer treatment.
Hans Mills now lives in Dasmarinas City, about 50 kilometres south of Manila, with his new wife, Rosemarie Espiritu, a former caregiver he met during his frequent business trips to southeast Asia.
He has not yet found greener pastures “but I can see one from here.” In the Philippines, he is beyond the reach of Canadian laws, he says, and the FRO is a “paper tiger” that can do him no harm.
Hans Mills was granted a probationary visa by the Philippines government last December, with his common-law wife as his sponsor. The two have since married.
Hans Mills, who has a BA in economics from the University of Toronto, has held a number of sales and marketing positions with e-learning companies. At the time of the breakup, Mills averaged a yearly income of more than $100,000.
Eight months since he last heard from his dad, Mills’ son Steven was eager to open a package that had just arrived from the Philippines in advance of his 11th birthday. Steven’s face dropped and tears welled up in his eyes when he saw its contents: dried banana chips, cassava chips, caramel popcorn and salted peanuts.
The birthday card accompanying the dry goods said: “Dear Steve, I hope you have a wonderful birthday. Love from Dad.”
“Why would I want this from my deadbeat dad?” the youngster said. “If he really cared, he’d be here.”
