OttawaDivorce.com Encourages Fraud?

So, somebody’s made a complaint to the Law Society about my web site and, in particular, about this page that deals with child support.

While I haven’t yet received a copy of the complaint, apparently the essence of the complaint is that this page encourages fraud and encourages people to evade their child support obligations.

The reality though is that numbers 1 through 4 are simply statements from the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

In particular, #1 is just a restatement of section 10 of the Child Support Guidelines, #2 is based on section 3(2) of the CSGs, #3 is a restatement of section 4 of the CSGs, #4 is a restatement of section 9 of the CSGs.

Number 5 is from the Divorce Act and is based on section 15.1(5).

Numbers 6 and 7 are certainly more aggressive, but are based on my experience. In particular, in Ottawa it is common for people in the high-tech industry to take low salaries and receive stock options that hopefully will result in a large payout in the future.

The final paragraph mentions a web site where people can buy a book on the subject.

I think as a lawyer I’d be negligent not to inform people of what the law is, or of ways in which they can accomplish their goals. If the page had been entitled “7 ways to pay less income tax” I wonder if it would have generated such a complaint. People have the right to arrange their affairs within the boundaries of the law so as to accomplish their financial goals.

When I recommend to people that they should get a marriage contract to reduce any future equalization payment, am I also encouraging fraud?

Finally, I’d like to think that one of the reasons people like my divorce web site is because I tell it like it is, regardless of whether the reality is pleasant or not. The goal of my web site is to present as much divorce information as possible to people, so that they can make their own choices and aren’t so dependant on lawyers.

What do you think? Is this page inappropriate? Let me know by adding your comment below.

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