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  • Financial Disclosure for Child Support

    Hi all,

    I am new here, have a court case, a lump sum child support paid long time ago, now ex is claiming back and on going support(she never reached out for support and all of sudden filed a court case), demanding all banking information with balances. I feel I am attacked. I understand the CS is based on income, do I have to provide historic bank info, RRSPs, etc? She threatens to request audit on my finance, the court will order it and I have to pay the cost. Is that true in family court?

    any comment is welcome.

  • #2
    First of all, what was the lump sum support amount and duration?

    Lump sum child support is not acceptable and could be ignored in ongoing support claims. But I would still keep it as an argument.

    She can go back three years max and it would be based on your annual income. Calculate out what you should have been paying all the time (table support based on your annual income) versus the lump sum you paid. From there calculate when the support ran out and what you owed. Once you have that number, provide her with copies of your annual tax return/notice of assessment and make her an offer.

    Let this be a lesson to anyone contemplating a lump sum pay out and washing their hands of it—lump sums don’t work. The recipient can still come back for more.

    Comment


    • #3
      Thanks rockscan for your inputs, my question is if I have to provide all banking info including the past, RRSPs, property, etc except for income info like tax returns?

      Comment


      • #4
        No, your tax returns will suffice. Unless you own your own business or have other work she is not entitled to all of that. If you withdrew money from an RRSP then it will show up on your taxes.

        More than likely she is threatening all this as she is pissed you will have a reduced income so some of it you can ignore.

        Send her copies of your noa for the last three years and make an offer on any outstanding cs.

        Comment


        • #5
          thanks rockscan, I don't own any business, no investment properties either, all my income is salary. I have a bit of RRSP and savings. The previous lump sum was based on previous salary and run out, but she never asked me for on going CS as she doesn't want me to contact the children. I have sent her my NOA, but she is saying she is claiming back support, so I have to provide all finance info, otherwise she will request the court to order it. I have no contact with the child at all in the past years due to parent elimination, now she thinks it is good time for CS. In this case if she requests, will the court order to provide RRSP, bank, and all other finance info in order to calculate the back support? Thanks.

          Comment


          • #6
            You would have to provide a financial statement outlining your assets. That’s to help the judge determine if you have the means to pay a retroactive award.

            It really doesnt matter that you don’t have a relationship. Based on what you stated, you were ok with giving up contact.

            How many years are we talking here? Have you figured out what you paid in a lump sum and what you would have owed in that time.

            She can ask for whatever she wants, it doesn’t mean the judge will make you provide it. Plus she can only go back three years from the date of her request. Your best bet is to send her an email with your last three notices of assessment, proof of your current income and advise that you have calculated the underpayment at xyz. Remind her of your previous agreement for a lump sum and that based on that agreement, you are providing the last three years. That she is not entitled to anything more than proof of your income and she is welcome to seek out a decision from the court but you will seek costs should she lose.

            If you have underpaid support (even if it was a lump sum agreement) you may be ordered to pay her the amount owed.

            Comment


            • #7
              back to 10 years ago, she took the lump sum(for 10 years) and remarried, but sent the child to her home country living with one of her relatives for 6 years. She didn't contact me ever since until recently filed a court case.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by gmcode View Post
                back to 10 years ago, she took the lump sum(for 10 years) and remarried, but sent the child to her home country living with one of her relatives for 6 years. She didn't contact me ever since until recently filed a court case.

                So calculate what you will pay going forward and offer her monthly support and updates based on income.

                You probably paid what you should have in those ten years and she either got legal advice or realized that the child is entitled to ongoing support. Don’t agree to a lump sum.

                Comment


                • #9
                  You need to make a spreadsheet and do some math.


                  So, ten years ago, you paid a lump sum that was supposed to represent your lifetime obligation of CS? Or just ten years of it?


                  Find your last ten years of income, line 150 from your taxes each year. Put that in one column, and in another column, calculate the running total of the table CS you ought to have paid up to now.


                  Does the lump sum still exceed that amount? Then you don't owe CS until that runs out. Was the lump sum inadequate? Then you owe her retroactive CS starting from when it ran out. Technically, you would only legally owe going back three years from when she asked, but that's not very ethical if it did run out earlier than that.


                  However, you just mentioned an additional complication. Four years in, your ex sent the child away to be raised by relatives. So you only owe your ex the CS for the four years she raised the child herself. After the child lived with relatives, you owed the CS to the relatives. Did your ex give them money to support the child? Ask for HER financial disclosure so you can calculate the amount she would have owed in CS and how much she actually paid to them. If she overpaid, then you can consider that she transferred some of your CS onwards. If she underpaid, then she has kept more of your CS money than she was entitled to.


                  I'm really sad for that child. You, the father, gave up on him/her, then a few years later, the mother sent him/her away. That's two major rejections. How old is the child now? Is there any way you can get back in touch with them?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Thanks Rioe, the child was living with her relative outside Canada about 1 year old, she promised to take the child back soon and signed it in the agreement attached to the divorced order. After I gave her the lump sum, she got remarried again in Canada but didn't take the child back until the child reached 6 years old right before the child's Canadian passport expired. She bought a new car after receiving the lump sum, no evidence sending money to her relative for child. she married a business owner and reports low income on tax, now she was the owner of the business, still reports low income. She doesn't want me to talk or meet the child, but the court has order to let me talk to the child over the phone for now.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Same idea still holds.


                      Calculate how much you ought to have paid in CS every year, based on your income.


                      Figure out how much of that should have gone to this other relative, and how much should have gone to your spouse, based on the years each one was looking after the child.


                      Find out if your ex provided any CS of her own to that relative, and if she gave any of your CS to the relative beyond that.


                      Use those numbers to calculate how much you may owe your ex, or if the lump sum still has anything remaining.


                      The way you describe it, it seems like she kept the lump sum, provided no CS (hers or yours) to the relative, and has now had the child back for a few years and discovered that it costs money.


                      So you have several issues you need to address before you can figure this out. Counter your ex's demand for information with one of your own. You need to know what CS she provided to this relative while the child was there, and what her income was for those years.


                      If she won't provide that, calculate your CS owing for the years the child was with her, and see if that is still under your lump sum. If so, do nothing but continue to provide disclosure every year so that you can both see when it will run out and you actually start paying CS again. If it exceeds the lump sum, pay her the difference right away, and start paying regular CS. If you want to quibble, you only need to go back three years, instead of the last four the child was back with her, but it might not be an amount worth fighting over if legal costs to do so would exceed it.


                      This does not address any money that should have gone to the relative, and assumes that zero was paid by your ex on your behalf. If arguments come up about that, indicate that if your ex demonstrates that no money was provided, you would be happy to come to an agreement with the relative to reimburse their expenses by retro-paying CS directly to them.


                      You really need to demonstrate good faith in figuring this all out as best you can. If she brings you to court, judges don't like seeing children in need now and not being regularly supported. CS is not done in lump sum format, so a judge may not even consider that lump sum as an advance on CS, but as a gift to your ex. She did a dumb thing and put it into a depreciating asset so the money is gone instead of being available and having earned interest, but the child clearly still needs clothing and food, etc.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I have been voluntarily sending her monthly CS based on my current income since she filed the case at court, am I doing the right thing? But she then retains a lawyer with the money to claim more and against me at the court.

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                        • #13
                          Yes that is the right thing to do. She can claim whatever she wants. My husband’s ex claimed he owed her over 80 grand, it was actually 5. In the end she lost. Don’t be intimidated by her threats and a lawyer. You owe cs based on your income. Period. You only have to provide her with your notice of assessment and a recent paystub. She can threaten you all she wants, until she has an order, her words are meaningless.

                          Comment

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