Home equity to pay child support?

[Dad0208]

So my ex is taking me to court to try to impute more income to me from 10 years earlier and obtain over $20,000 in retroactive based on this imputed income.

She is saying that it would not cause hardship to me because I have more than enough equity in my home, which I am co-owner, to pay it. I can't see her getting this money, but if she did, would a judge actually order me to get a home equity loan just to pay it? Even if the main owner is my wife? Does anyone have any experience with this?

[Berner_Faith]

I doubt she will get 10 years unless you have intentionally hidden income. Did you update your income annually for CS? Only you know if you truly owe this amount or not. A judge can't order you to pay a certain way but they can order you to pay back support. Usually it's back to the time the request was first made to update CS but sometimes it can be earlier depending on if the payor hid income or not


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[rockscan]

The onus is on her to prove you could have made the extra income. It will be interesting to see how she will do so since imputing is mainly for people who are specifically under employed or not working.

You may want to start organizing any information you have to refute this. For instance any jobs you applied for and the outcomes, work balance to spend time with the kids etc.

[Dad0208]

She only thinks I've hidden income, but I haven't. I was off for a few years because of a car accident, and I haven't been able to work as much since then because of it. I had an extremely physical construction job and couldn't go back to it, so she thinks I can still make the same pay I used to. I paid what I was supposed to pay at the time even though I could have reduced it to nothing, but I didn't. She knew about this all along and now has decided to ask for retroactive going back 10 years. She's asked for bank statements, which is fine, but she will spend hours going through them all because I used the account for everything and never deal in cash.

Does anyone know if there's a way to show deposits only? I tried asking the bank and they will only give me the complete statements and not show just the deposits.

[OttawaDad11]

Don't give her bank statements. Give her your NOA's. That's all you are obligated to provide.

[Berner_Faith]

Don't give her bank statements. Give her your NOA's. That's all you are obligated to provide.

Not necessarily true... if he was self employed in the construction industry then his NOAs really mean little because there are write offs that don't count for CS purposes.




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[rockscan]

You dont have to provide bank statements. You can put in your response that you suffered an accident on x date and the resulting injuries have prevented you from working.

My partners ex did the same thing asking for bank statements, loan applications, job searches, vacation expenses and all receipts for all home renovations completed. His lawyer said none of those things are relevant. He also said that if ordered he would have to provide his job search efforts (he was unemployed for a year).

Your response can outline all that you have paid and how it relates to your income. For instance, my income for 2016 was x and my child support payments were y for a total of xyz for the year. I paid xyz to the applicant.

Unless you are ordered to provide bank statements, dont sweat it. You just respond with copies of your noa and taxes and calculate out what you paid.

[Dad0208]

I gave her all my notice of assesments already, and she didn't even ask me for bank statements personally, she's just asking the judge to order it in her case conference brief. I don't mind providing them to her if I have to, but it will cost me 2 bucks per statement for 7 years worth.

[arabian]

I doubt your ex is going to be successful in her application. She would be faced with the question: why did you wait so long before pursuing this?

[OttawaDad11]

Not necessarily true... if he was self employed in the construction industry then his NOAs really mean little because there are write offs that don't count for CS purposes.




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Fair enough. But how do bank statements help this? Just because it's a deposit, doesn't mean it's income.

His income is what has been reported to CRA, whether business owner or not. I was a contractor for awhile. my business had and income and I had an income. They weren't the same. If they want to audit his Business income and expenese/write offs, then maybe soem additional info, but that doesn't require his personal bank statements as far as I know. I would assume it would be pay stubs and his full T1 General showing what was written off. (yes, I realize that if he owns a business, it's not a T1, it's a T2 or something. I don't recall the specifics here, but the point is the same).

[rockscan]

She can ask for anything she wants, its what the judge orders. She would have a hard time arguing she requires bank statements.

Your response is simple: you have provided full and updated financial information every year by x date. You updated child support accordingly every year. You have paid more than you owe based on your noa and t1 (you could even calculate it out in a chart--owed, paid, overpayment if any). Then you say you want the motion dismissed with costs. Period.

Youre going to go to a case conference where a judge will sit you both down and go through it all. More than likely they will tell her that you arent liable for money she thinks you should be making. You were honest and up front about your income. Your property has no bearing on what your income was or what she thinks you owe. She sounds like my partners ex who feels that he should sell his house to pay her what she thinks he owes her!

[Dad0208]

My daughter is now almost 21. I am paying on a temporary order right now, but my ex is not looking for a contribution for education expenses. My daughter got enough osap to cover her expenses for school and also works, so my ex just wants the retroactive for herself. I offered to pay the loan instead, but she just wants it for herself.

[rockscan]

Well technically your daughter is not expected to use her loan if it is going to create a financial hardship. You may want to look at the education costs AFTER her grants are subtracted and propose paying your proportionate share of the cost. It would go into your offer to settle if you choose to provide one.

You shouldnt concern yourself with her motives, it just drags you down the "not focusing on winning" path. Respond according to the law and your agreement and go from there. The onus is on her to prove you have been withholding info or purposely not meeting your obligations and it doesnt sound like you are doing what she says.

[OttawaDad11]

Sounds like his ex didn't pay her share for the post secondary education either rockscan. It's on the daughter, like it is in many still together families.

Would that count as agreement? I would think she wouldn't bring it up since she'd also have to cough up her %.

I wouldn't mention that part to the ex if she hasn't yet. Deal with that if it comes.

I agree with the rest of what you said. Don't concern yourself with her motives. Respond according the law and don't give any more than you need to.

[Dad0208]

I also found out from my daughter that my ex has been renting her basement to a tenant for about 4 years. I have this information in a text. My daughter was ranting and complaining about her mom and money and said she receives rent from a tenant. My ex has not claimed this money ever. She also refuses to submit a full financial statement with income tax returns because she thinks she doesn't have to. Would this be something to bring up for a motion? Especially since she has been accusing me of hiding income?