Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Termination of Child Support -- When is that?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Termination of Child Support -- When is that?

    There seems to be a lot of different answers to "when does child support end?" ...
    Our court order does not specify an end date for CS, Our child is 19 years old, endured her final two years of high school in the pandemic, took a GAP year (didn't want university to be on a screen) and went travelling for 4/12 months. She lived at home with me (custodial parent) for 8/12 months. Now is away at school September - April.

    I have been served with motion to vary child support from her father. Father wants to not pay anymore and wants me to pay retroactive CS back to him back to her 18th birthday -- about $11K. He is in arrears for 16 months of CS (FRO has paid out half of it but since he didn't update his salary, he owes another $300/month and hasn't paid that for 16 months = $4800.)

    Father was underemployed 10 years ago due to professional misconduct and underpaid child support (dropped from $1000 to $200/month) for 5 years then retrained and is now sitting on 800K in his checking account, make 125K, spouse makes $285K and family monthly income is just over 30K. My yearly income is $50K , monthly is about $4K.

    Now that he CAN finally pay child support, he wants to end it and to have me pay him back for the last 16months.

    What's my strategy in response? I'd like to simply say: pay until end of first degree. Or, off that he pay full CS when she is living at home and reduced amount when she's at school? He IS paying for 50% of her education (with our RESPs).

    thoughts?

    MP

  • #2
    Originally posted by Magpie View Post
    There seems to be a lot of different answers to "when does child support end?" ...
    Our court order does not specify an end date for CS, Our child is 19 years old, endured her final two years of high school in the pandemic, took a GAP year (didn't want university to be on a screen) and went travelling for 4/12 months. She lived at home with me (custodial parent) for 8/12 months. Now is away at school September - April.
    The months she was in school = cs paid regardless of age. Months after 19 not in school = no cs. You will need to calculate what was owed versus what he paid. Also, if she lives away from home for school then cs is only paid for the summer which would be averaged over the 12 months. So four months full cs divided by 12.

    I have been served with motion to vary child support from her father. Father wants to not pay anymore and wants me to pay retroactive CS back to him back to her 18th birthday -- about $11K. He is in arrears for 16 months of CS (FRO has paid out half of it but since he didn't update his salary, he owes another $300/month and hasn't paid that for 16 months = $4800.)
    So your response is that you want income information for the last three years and to recalculate what he should have been paying and what he will pay going forward. You may need to pay him back you may not. He will also owe a proportionate share of kids school expenses so gather up those receipts and calculate that.

    Father was underemployed 10 years ago due to professional misconduct and underpaid child support (dropped from $1000 to $200/month)
    Did you make a claim? Did you argue under employment? Then this is irrelevant.
    is now sitting on 800K in his checking account,
    Irrelevant unless that money came from income he hasn't declared.

    make 125K,
    Relevant for child support calculations.
    spouse makes $285K and family monthly income is just over 30K. My yearly income is $50K , monthly is about $4K.
    Irrelevant. His partner's income has nothing to do with his support unless he is claiming hardship and I doubt he is.

    Now that he CAN finally pay child support, he wants to end it and to have me pay him back for the last 16months.
    Calculate his support obligations over the last three years and compare it to what he paid. Your daughter was not entitled to support for the months she was 19 and not in school. You don't get to claim support for what you think he should have been paying.

    What's my strategy in response? I'd like to simply say: pay until end of first degree. Or, off that he pay full CS when she is living at home and reduced amount when she's at school? He IS paying for 50% of her education (with our RESPs).
    Your response is what I noted. Three years back and then going forward. He doesnt pay while shes away. He is paying for her education which is a good step and he pays to the end of the first degree but that is for full time school in a reasonable program. She can't take six years to get a three year degree and get support.

    This has been discussed in other threads. Do a search of post secondary to read more.

    Comment


    • #3
      Thank you Rockscan. I have been reading a lot about this and did search for other threads... fumbling a bit on this forum to find old discussions.

      What i am reading really isn't cut and dry with respect to termination date.

      It does not appear to be true in all cases that child support ends when a child turns 18 years of age especially where CS is not expressly terminated in the order. There doesn't appear to be any hard law on this. "Separated spouses and parents in Ontario have an obligation to continue to provide support for children over the age of majority (18 years of age) where the child is unable to become self-supporting “by reason of illness, disability or other cause.” The courts have generally defined “other cause” to include full-time education and the new trend in "GAP years" is also in question. Accordingly, a child who is over the age of majority but remains enrolled full-time in a post-secondary program continues to be defined as a “child of the marriage” and, therefore, is still entitled to receive child support. (Morrison Williams Family Law article: https://mwfamilylaw.ca/child-support...-age-majority/) ​
      i'm wondering if it being a pandemic, our daughter being at home full time with me (expect for the 4 months she travelled), working on and off through lock downs, wisdom teeth out, AXIS II psychological testing and diagnosis, clinical anxiety and depression and a wish to work for school money rather than leave and do university on a screen... plays into her receiving child support for her GAP year. It was a gong show. It was a global pandemic and we were hunkered down for that year -- at home, she didn't see her dad very often because of the plague and she certainly was still a child of the marriage ...

      MP

      Comment


      • #4
        Courts don't always consider a gap year for a child over 18 as cs entitled. You can try arguing it but it may not fly. Both my step kids did that—a gap year. And his ex tried to argue entitlement saying they had to be off due to anxiety and recovery and the judge told her no.

        Comment

        Our Divorce Forums
        Forums dedicated to helping people all across Canada get through the separation and divorce process, with discussions about legal issues, parenting issues, financial issues and more.
        Working...
        X