s.7 expenses percentage & child support?

[eyeswideopen]

Hello. My wife and I have been separated since mid July 2011, she moved out I am in the matrimonial home and making all payments on this property on my own since then. We are working with lawyers (because she went to that route first on the advice of a 'friend'). I am trying to negotiate with my ex "off the table" so that we can save time dickering back and forth through the lawyers.

We have agreed on our assets and I will owe her monies to equalize fine. The process has been stalled because my wife did not think she should make child support payments to me. We have been living a shared custody arrangement 50/50 split, my wife makes about $20K more than I per year for the past 4 years. The offset amount she should pay is around $300ish dollars a month (she hasn't paid anything because we don't have a signed agreement or an order yet). After consultations with her lawyer and her research online she has agreed to pay the standard offset table amount but still feels that s.7 and post secondary expensed should be shared equally rather than proportionately. She forwarded to me an explanation from a lawyer friend (not the lawyer representing her) the following: "s7 expenses are paid proportionately in accordance with percentage of net disposable income (NDI). If -- after payment of support - your NDI's are the same, you should each pay 50%"...

When I read everything online I don't see anything about NDI's. There are examples on the federal governments website about offset table amounts for shared custody arrangements and methods for calculating s.7 and post secondary expenses all with proportionate to income instances.

I have forwarded all the pertinent details to my lawyer and still have to meet with him. But this is still unclear in my own mind. Who is right her or i?

[torontonian]

Check the calculator JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource: Children's Special Expenses Calculator
and the rest of the chapter for details on S7 at JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource: Child Support > The Guidelines
Hope it helps

[Rioe]

I'm not sure about the NDI stuff, but definitely push to have the section 7 expenses be proportionate to income, with the proportion for the year re-established after the exchange of tax info. This has built in flexibility to change as incomes change. Sure she wants 50-50 now, when it saves her a bit of money, but point out to her that it protects each of you should one of you lose your job, and helps the other should one of you get a nice fat raise.