Child's income

[Dad0208]

Does anyone have any experience with paying less child support due to the child's income? My daughter is almost 21, she has made more than 800 per month while attending college. She will be finished in about a month, but her mom still wants child support. She paid for school with osap and doesn't need to start paying until she is back working, so would the courts not take that into account? How should I still have to pay based on my income when she makes that much money every month while attending school? Anyone have experience with this?

[rockscan]

Your daughters income only impacts her share of expenses and its a stretch at that.

If she is enrolled in school full time she is still a child of the marriage and eligible for support. If she is graduating in a month then she no longer is a child of the marriage. You would have been obligated to pay cs while she was in school and a portion of her school expenses.

Judges dont like to punish kids for their parents decisions by making them use all their income and student loans.

[Dad0208]

I have been paying. The judge knows that she used osap to fund her education and that her mother is not contributing to that, so if her income does not impact anything else, then why would the judge write an endorsement asking her mother to provide our daughters income during the period she was in school? If it does not impact anything, there would have been no reason to provide it right? She made way more in 2017 than her schooling even costs. We are going on our 3rd case conference.

[HammerDad]

You post says the child will be "finished" school in about a month. Does "finished" mean graduating or does it mean off for summer break?

If the child is graduating this year, then c/s would cease the date they graduate (subject to the usual caveats of whether the child is going to post graduate studies, and that the parents are to pay it based off of their education level).

If the child is simply off for summer, then c/s continues until they graduate.

The tone of your post suggests the kid is graduating, which means c/s stops as they are no longer a "child of marriage" as defined in the legislation.

[Dad0208]

Yes, she will graduate from her program once her placement has finished, but her mother wants me to pay again in September because my daughter wants to start a different program that is unrelated to the one she is graduating from. She refuses to terminate support once this program is finished.

[Dad0208]

I just find it ridiculous that my daughter can earn more than 800 per month and not have that impact anything.

[rockscan]

Good for her for working and earning money! Shes a smart kid who will do well in life.

If your ex can demonstrate that the program will help with future employment and you or both of you have advanced degrees, prepare to pay for schooling part two.

What you owe and what your ex owes for school are completely different and if ex doesnt pay kid thats not your problem. What is your problem is what you owe.

More than likely case conference number three is because neither one of you are being reasonable. You need to ask yourself how much youre spending on court and how much you could save simply paying your obligations.

[Dad0208]

It has nothing to do with me not being reasonable. She's the one who is asking for thousands of dollars and trying to impute an income to me that I've never had. She refuses any offer I've given and she has been completely unrealistic. Going to court is not my choice, but I will not pay her a penny more than I'm supposed to.

[rockscan]

A) your daughter should not have had to pay all her schooling with OSAP. There should have been a split of the costs between the three of you.

B) if she is in school then you are obligated to pay child support.

A third case conference means neither party agrees to anything and its not as simple as she wants cs and wants to impute an income to me. Why has the judge been unable to get you both to an agreement after two conferences? What has the judge said to your ex that she isn’t getting? What is the judge saying to you about all this?

There’s more to your case than what you are saying and its great you don’t want to share. However, when someone comes here bitching about their kids making a lot of money so they shouldn’t have to pay anything, theres a certain level of wtf in readers minds.

[Dad0208]

Seriously, if you're here to judge, then there's no need to reply. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 21 year old paying their own way and people who believe otherwise is what's wrong with this generation. I've been paying my own way since 16 years old and I'm still alive today. And my ex is the one not providing the information needed to finish with the case and such, like schooling info, etc..., so if you are giving advice, fine, if you're gonna judge, move along.

[rockscan]

Im not judging. You came here to ask a question and I answered it. Your follow up continued to demonstrate why there is a problem.

The courts don’t care how you lived your life or paid your way. They don’t think kids should suffer because their parents decided to divorce. You have an obligation to support your kid. Your ex will now need to demonstrate why kid is entitled to a second course of study. You can beat your head against the wall all you want but unfortunately until a judge tells her no, you’re in this.

Before you bitch, my partner is dealing with an unreasonable ex with the legal bills to prove it. All of this info I give is free legal advice he has been given. He hates it as much as anyone else but unfortunately until a judge tells her no, he is in it too.

[Dad0208]

It sounded like you were judging. I don't have a single issue giving my daughter money to help her get by. That has never been my issue. She could live with me for free if she was going to school where I live and I would probably even give her extra money to help out. My issue is having to give her mother money when I know her mother would not or will not do the same. She is the most greedy person I've ever met and she will try to squeeze every last penny out that she can. She does it with my daughter too.

She's constantly trying everything she can to make me look bad. I paid half of my daughter's dental bill and I'm the one who has to show the court that I paid because she leaves that part out and just tells them I never want to pay.

I don't get why she has to be so miserable at all times.

[rockscan]

Yep, sounds a lot like my partners ex. You may want to ask about going straight to trial rather than these bs conferences. If nothing is getting resolved at them then you may need to just get moving.

[Rioe]

The child is in school and lives with one parent. Legally, she is not expected to fully support herself as her focus is supposed to be school, not employment.

s7 is the cost of education (tuition, books, other fees) split 1/3 paid for by the child (from her nice part-time job, presumably) and the remaining 2/3 shared by the parents proportional to their incomes. So you give a percentage of that remaining 2/3 to your child. OSAP is irrelevant to your share, though maybe it comes out of the child's 1/3. You also have nothing to do with your ex paying her share of the 2/3 to your child. Maybe that happens, maybe it doesn't, but it's between the child and her mother.

CS is paid from you to the mom because that's where the child lives. This covers bills for food, shelter, transportation, other basic needs etc.

What your daughter's $800 a month earnings are for is her 1/3 share of her school expenses, lowering the amount of OSAP she needs or going towards paying it back, her entertainment expenses, saving for her own apartment or car or future, etc.

When the child graduates, your obligation for both s7 and CS is done. She is now an adult, with a decent part-time job and few living expenses, who can seek full-time employment in her field. Maybe give her a nice graduation bonus to help her out.

If the mom is trying to get you to keep paying after graduation, don't. If she takes you to court, your arguments would be that your daughter is now an adult, and her choice to avoid employment and go into a new program is something she must deal with on her own like an adult. Naturally, as a loving parent, you would be happy to help her out if you are able to, but done personally as related adults, not as a parent-child family law obligation that involves her mother.

Are you with FRO? Is there any reason you can't just cut off the CS at graduation? If your ex wants to take you to court to make you keep paying, that could take a long time. But if you have to go to court before you can get FRO to stop taking your money, that's another matter.

[Gilligan]

Dad0208, I think the advice provided above is very sound and what you should expect. Don't take it as "Judgement", but rather what you should expect as a "Judgement" form the court.

I face very similar situations and also have some beliefs about a child having some "skin in the game", however the pretty clear and generally expected outcome form the courts is stated above and what the courts believe to be reasonable. It doesn't matter if you agree with it or not, however the courts would find you "unreasonable" if you didn't agree with their decision. Trust me, I can appreciate your perspective.

I've had to wrap my brain around this, you have to accept the fact that if pushed by your ex, the law will require your to continue to pay CS for your child while the remain a child of the marriage (1st degree generally) and pay for your proportionate share (S.7) of at lease 2/3 of the total schooling costs (Tuition, living expenses). I haven't crossed this road myself yet, but if your child goes away for schooling, there appears to be some flexibility on CS while they are away.

Hope that helps, people here are just trying to help. It's a pretty non-judgemental bunch.