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  • #16
    Yes, the money in the account still belongs to the parent who put it in. The RESP provides a tax shelter; in exchange for the benefit of a tax shelter, the parent agrees to reserve that money for paying the child's postsecondary education. It's still your money, it's just restricted in what you can use it for. So yes, it counts towards your portion of postsecondary expenses.

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    • #17
      No your ex is correct. The leftover portion you two got to share according to income

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      • #18
        I've posted this in other threads, in the past. McDreamy actually looked this up.

        mcdreamy posted these cases in another thread of mine, where post-seperation RESP contributions were deemed to be the contribution of the account holder.

        CanLII - 2008 BCSC 1316 (CanLII)

        CanLII - 2010 SKQB 397 (CanLII)

        CanLII - 2010 SKQB 409 (CanLII)

        CanLII - 2012 ONSC 6043 (CanLII)

        CanLII - 2010 ONSC 4030 (CanLII)

        There have also been cases, where ex'es try to have all the RESP contributions counted as the child's first, then each parent has to split remainder; this is usually pulled by the parent, who never contributed at all, and who tries to lessen their share. So use this case law, if that ever comes up.

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        • #19
          When my child needed braces my benefits, which I pay for, covered 50% of the expense. The orthodontist offered and additional $500 discount if the mount was paid in full rather than a payment plan. I took advantage of this. Ex was "supposed" to split the remaining amount (after the $500 discount a d my benefits) proportionate to income. That never happened and my lawyer was not interested in helping me pursue this because it would cost more in legal fees. I sucked it up because my kid needed braces. Result: ex playing possum worked in favour for him once again but my kid now has beautiful teeth.

          In terms of RESPs... I have a policy for each kid. They were opened during marriage. After separation ex insisted on paying the monthly contributions, he was primary name on the policy and I was not working. I discovered by chance on two occasions that these policies were in default due to lack of payment. When the second occurrence was discovered, I insisted his name be removed and I become sole owner of them. He did not argue and signed off on them. I caught up on the back payments and moved forward.

          When writing up the separation agreement I told my lawyer how concerned I was that the ex would benefit equally from the RESPs if the kids chose to attend post secondary school one day. I do not feel it is fair that ex benefits when I unilaterally choose to sacrifice to save and he chooses not to... Particularly when he continues to make more money than I do. I wanted my RESP contributions to be credited towards my proportionate to income responsibility toward education expenses.

          My lawyer advised me not to put a clause in the agreement which specifically addresses the RESPs because that would "set off a red light". He assured me that the RESP contributions would count as my contribution. My final agreement simply states that we will both contribute proportionately and education is an exception to another clause which states S7s and support payments will not exceed 50% of his income.

          The RESP thing still scares me...

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          • #20
            I actually reduced my RESP contribution from $150 to $100 monthly after I realized that ex was only putting $50/month into his. I am pretty sure that RESPs count as the contribution of the account holder (according to my bank and also according to the cases McDreamy dug up), but just in case ex tries to argue otherwise, I don't want a big tempting pot of money sitting there to subsidize his contributions (if that makes sense).

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