Case Law on what constitutes s. 7 expenses?

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Hide on Bush

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Is there a good source on different case laws that what constitutes section 7 expenses? Attending a CC on Friday and a main point is s. 7 expenses. Other party’s lawyer is arguing:

1. Travel to and from daycare is not a s. 7 expense
2. Daycare is not a s. 7 expense
3. A computer due to a year of virtual schooling because of Covid is not a s. 7 expense
4. Dental work is not a s. 7 expense

Other party pays a fixed amount of $250 per month due to a long history of failing to reimburse expenses. Other party is trying to lower it to $100 per month.
 
Hide on Bush said:
Is there a good source on different case laws that what constitutes section 7 expenses? Attending a CC on Friday and a main point is s. 7 expenses. Other partyâ€s lawyer is arguing:

1. Travel to and from daycare is not a s. 7 expense
2. Daycare is not a s. 7 expense
3. A computer due to a year of virtual schooling because of Covid is not a s. 7 expense
4. Dental work is not a s. 7 expense

Other party pays a fixed amount of $250 per month due to a long history of failing to reimburse expenses. Other party is trying to lower it to $100 per month.
Click to expand...

There is limited case law but you can search yourself on canlii.

Travel to daycare is not section 7. Daycare so you can work is section 7. Computer is iffy and the dental work if needed definitely is.

Funny your ex didn’t want your kid spending so much time with his grandparents but also doesn’t want to pay daycare? He can’t suck and blow.
 
Recovering money from s.7 is incredibly hard. I would not advise reducing s.7 payments if they are fixed. Read my thread about how I paid for s.7 expenditures and my ex lets pass time to the point of plum forgetting/denying it ever took place.

With regards to your post:
1- travel is not s.7 expense
2- daycare absolutely is s.7 expense
3- Computer should not be s.7 expense. If you are arguing your ex pay their share, are you ok with it traveling between homes? Just let that go. You have new computer to use at your home.
4- Dental work is s.7 expense.
 
I was basing the travel on Gagne v. Gagne, 2011 ONCA 188, specifically paragraph 17, where the appeal court deemed Justice Paisley decision as appropriate through his statement of “any expenses that qualify as special or extraordinary expenses are to be shared proportionally according to s.7 of the Child Support Guidelines. As found by the trial judge, these include expenses for Sarah’s private school, post-secondary expenses for Eric and James, expenses for wisdom teeth removal, cell phones and laptops for the children, minor trips of a celebratory nature, automobile insurance and travel to and from school and work. The respondent is to maintain and provide receipts for these expenses semi-annually.”
 
I'm not an expert on s.7 expenditures, but can decifer the decision a bit:

The decision is in 2011 and kids appear to be 22 (Eric), 19 (James) and 16 (Sarah) at time of decision. It appears that Eric and James are in post-secondary studies and Sarah is in private school.

Paragraph 17 of the decision states: "Any expenses that qualify as special or extraordinary expenses are to be shared proportionally according to s.7 of the Child Support Guidelines. As found by the trial judge, these include expenses for Sarah’s private school, post-secondary expenses for Eric and James, expenses for wisdom teeth removal, cell phones and laptops for the children, minor trips of a celebratory nature, automobile insurance and travel to and from school and work. The respondent is to maintain and provide receipts for these expenses semi-annually."

So s.7 expenditures include tuition for all 3 kids' schools, cell phones and laptops for their schooling. It also includes automobile insurance for the kids and their travel to and from school. This would imply they drive to school (so car payments and gas) or take transit (transit pass).

I think there is a difference between contributing to your grown kids car/insurance so they can drive themselves to university and their part-time jobs; and claiming gas/mileage for yourself for picking up kids at daycare.
 
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You’re looking at a case where the situation for the kids was set before separation AND the payor was a very high income earner. You are not going to get travel to and from school, that’s covered under child support.

You can pitch the laptop but I would check first if your son’s school offered laptops for online learning because they could argue that and are you willing to waste your fight on that?

Wisdom teeth removal is a section 7 but it is shared after any benefits are applied.
 
Hide on Bush said:
Is there a good source on different case laws that what constitutes section 7 expenses? Attending a CC on Friday and a main point is s. 7 expenses. Other party’s lawyer is arguing:

1. Travel to and from daycare is not a s. 7 expense
2. Daycare is not a s. 7 expense
3. A computer due to a year of virtual schooling because of Covid is not a s. 7 expense
4. Dental work is not a s. 7 expense

Other party pays a fixed amount of $250 per month due to a long history of failing to reimburse expenses. Other party is trying to lower it to $100 per month.
Click to expand...

Any regular day to day expenses are not section 7.

1 travel to daycare - not s.7
2 daycare with a daycare provider to facilitate either or both parents work is s.7
3 a computer for virtual school would be difficult to have admitted as a s.7 if for no other reason than money was provided to parents from the government specifically to help pay for this during the pandemic. Who received those payments and how much was the outstanding cost of said computer after those payments were applied? It could be argued that if the outstanding cost was high, the computer chosen was more than what was necessary for e-learning, a basic chromebook would suffice and if the parent chose to purchase an expensive gaming computer instead, that would be a choice they assume responsibility for.
4 out of pocket costs of dental work after all available insurance has been applied may be considered s.7, depending on the cost.

With the exception of daycare and unavoidable medical costs, s.7 expenses need to be discussed and agreed upon prior to the expenses being incurred. Optional medical costs need to e discussed and agreed upon.

If the agreement states a flat amount per month and the annual expenditures for their share are far less then it makes sense to reduce the monthly amount to something more in line with actual costs. If the costs are much higher then it makes sense to increase the monthly amount.
 
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