The following
is from Section 11(1)(b) of the Canada Divorce Act:
[In a
divorce proceeding, it is the duty of the court] to satisfy
itself that reasonable arrangements have been made for the
support of any children of the marriage, having regard to
the applicable guidelines, and, if such arrangements have
not been made, to stay the granting of the divorce until
such arrangements are made. emphasis added
In short,
child support should be paid by the 'non-residential' parent in
accordance with the Federal Child Support Guidelines.
Federal
Child Support Guidelines
The Canadian
government has established guidelines respecting the making of
orders for child support. The "Guidelines" consist of a set of
rules and tables for calculating the amount of support that a
paying parent should contribute towards his or her children.
See
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/fcy-fea/sup-pen/index.html
How is the amount of child
support determined?
Who pays child support depends
on the child's residential arrangements. The basic amount
(referred to as the "Table amount") is based on three things:
- the payor's income;
- the number of children
involved; and
- the province or territory
where the payor lives.
In some
circumstances, the base amount can be increased or decreased.
For example, the amount could be adjusted if the children have
special expenses, such as childcare. The amount could also be
adjusted to prevent financial hardship for a parent or the
children. This might be fair when, for example, the parent
paying the child support is suffering a hardship—perhaps because
that parent is supporting a new family and has a lower standard
of living than the parent receiving the child support.
Click the
following link to access "The Federal Child Support Guidelines:
Step-by-Step" published by the Department of Justice:
www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/fcy-fea/lib-bib/pub/guide/index.html
Note:
If you have a separation agreement for child support in
an amount that is lower than the applicable Guidelines Table amount,
unless you can satisfy the judge that
there are ‘special circumstances’ that directly or
indirectly benefit your children, or that payment of the Table
amount would cause an 'undue hardship'* on the paying
parent, the court may ignore the
agreement and refuse to grant the divorce until support is paid
in accordance with the Guidelines. Click
here for more information on separation agreements. Even a
prior court order could be ignored by the judge reviewing your
divorce. (*See
Section 10 of the
Federal Guidelines re ‘undue hardship’.)
What about
when the children live for half of the time with each parent?
There is a
common misconception that in a 50/50 living situation, neither
parent has to pay child support. Unless there are exceptional
circumstances, the higher income earner should be paying the net
difference in the parties' respective Table amounts. Click
here for more information on this topic.
Using
ezDivorce
when you
have children:
If you are
supposed to be paying child support and are not, or are
paying less than what the Federal Child Support Guidelines say
should be paid based on your income, the court will most likely
refuse to grant your divorce until you start paying the proper
amount - regardless of whether you have a written agreement or
prior court order for a lesser amount!
ezDivorce
will in most cases not assist with your divorce if you are not
paying in accordance with the Guidelines.
If you should be receiving child support but are not, or
are receiving an amount that is less than what the Guidelines
say should be paid, it is still possible that a judge may refuse
to grant the divorce until you receive or at least pursue the proper child support
amount.
If
ezDivorce
files your divorce and this happens to you, you will either have
to get your spouse to start paying the correct amount, or your
will have to proceed with a separate application for child
support. Note that
ezDivorce
will not assist you with this separate application. You will be
guided you to information, guides and forms that are available
on the internet from the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Click her for
more information about the Federal
Child Support Guidelines.
*THE FACT THAT THE
OWNER/OPERATOR OF
ezDivorce
IS A LAWYER SHOULD NOT
LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE PURCHASING AND/OR RECEIVING
LEGAL ADVICE OR REPRESENTATION.
The only services provided by or
through
ezDivorce
are (1) the completion and filing of the forms required to
obtain a simple divorce in Ontario, Canada, and (2) the
completion of basic separation agreement templates - in each
case without the provision of legal advice or
representation.
Please review our
terms of purchase and privacy policy.
