In this country children from "second" families are not considered when assigning child support and extra expense amounts to the first kids. But in most European countries and in Australia, ALL children are considered when determining how much is money is appropriate to send to the first kids.
With almost 1/2 of all marriages ending in divorce, second families are becoming the norm for both CP's and NCP's. Neither person, CP or NCP should be forced into such poverty by their CS payments that they can't AFFORD to have additional children.
I don't think any parent (CP or NCP) would feel it's ok to put one of their children above the other, but that is exactly what the government is forcing many NCP's to do, by imposing high CS awards and then ADDING extra expenses ON TOP of CS, without any regard to the actual monetary status of the 2 housholds and the number of children they have to support (both full time and part-time when the "first" kids visit).
"Second" children should not take away from the first children, but if reasonable amounts were set in the first place, based on the actual costs of the child without trying to "equalize" the households, this problem wouldn't exist in the first place.
Also, benefits and tax treatments of CS need to be more fairly divided between the CP and the NCP. For instance, when assessing the child tax benefits for any second children, the Child Support paid to the 1st children should be deducted off the total income. As it is now, the 2nd children get a lower % based on actual income in their home, and the CP gets a higher % based on actual income in her home (as the CP doesn't claim CS rec'd for this calculation). There are numerous other tax and benefit changes that could be made, that would taking NOTHING away from the 1st kids, but would ensure fairer treatment of the 2nd children.
It is time things changed!
This is what needs to happen in Canada - below is the summary of the new Australian child support plans (which before was just like Canadas). It is really very simple and can and should be done:
Under the new Australian Child Support Scheme:
1)child support payments will be calculated based on Australian research into the actual costs of children
2)the combined income of both parents will be used to calculate child support payments, treating the income of both parents in the same way (i.e. same tax treatment)
3)both parents' contributions to the cost of their children through care and contact will be recognised, and
4)children of first and second families will be treated more equally.
With almost 1/2 of all marriages ending in divorce, second families are becoming the norm for both CP's and NCP's. Neither person, CP or NCP should be forced into such poverty by their CS payments that they can't AFFORD to have additional children.
I don't think any parent (CP or NCP) would feel it's ok to put one of their children above the other, but that is exactly what the government is forcing many NCP's to do, by imposing high CS awards and then ADDING extra expenses ON TOP of CS, without any regard to the actual monetary status of the 2 housholds and the number of children they have to support (both full time and part-time when the "first" kids visit).
"Second" children should not take away from the first children, but if reasonable amounts were set in the first place, based on the actual costs of the child without trying to "equalize" the households, this problem wouldn't exist in the first place.
Also, benefits and tax treatments of CS need to be more fairly divided between the CP and the NCP. For instance, when assessing the child tax benefits for any second children, the Child Support paid to the 1st children should be deducted off the total income. As it is now, the 2nd children get a lower % based on actual income in their home, and the CP gets a higher % based on actual income in her home (as the CP doesn't claim CS rec'd for this calculation). There are numerous other tax and benefit changes that could be made, that would taking NOTHING away from the 1st kids, but would ensure fairer treatment of the 2nd children.
It is time things changed!
This is what needs to happen in Canada - below is the summary of the new Australian child support plans (which before was just like Canadas). It is really very simple and can and should be done:
Under the new Australian Child Support Scheme:
1)child support payments will be calculated based on Australian research into the actual costs of children
2)the combined income of both parents will be used to calculate child support payments, treating the income of both parents in the same way (i.e. same tax treatment)
3)both parents' contributions to the cost of their children through care and contact will be recognised, and
4)children of first and second families will be treated more equally.
Comment