Offset CS - Claim Legal Fees?

[KnotUntied]

Kind of a long shot here, but I was thinking...

Since CRA is allowing me to claim 1 of our 2 children as an eligible depandant (waiting for payment statement from ex as per my other thread), that means they recognize that we are both technically paying CS to each other (as is the case with our 50/50 arrangement). We went to court this past year to sort out issues with CS and SS. Do you think that I am entitled then to claim the legal fees that I had to pay to have this resolved?

Line 232 - Legal fees

Line 232 - Legal fees

You can deduct your expenses in any of the following situations:
you established the amount of support payments from your current or former spouse or common-law partner;
you established the amount of support payments from the natural parent of your child (who is not your current or former spouse or common-law partner) where the support is payable under the terms of an order;

Like I said, a long shot. Just wondering what you guys think? DTTE?

 

[billm]

Nope, that is just for women

 

[Mominneed]

I'm no expert but I don't see why not - you were setting cs for yourself in part. I believe what you need to make the claim is a letter from your lawyer with their estimate on the amount (% I suppose) of the legal fees paid in the year that related to settling support amounts. You only need to deduct any costs awarded from that if any.

 

[dadtotheend]

I think you have a claim. I haven't had to deal with that situaion before though, only cases where there is a primary caregiver.

I would make the claim and see what happens. But you will have to get the letter from your lawyer that sets out the % of legal fees that relate to obtaining a support order, because it an area that is highly targeted for review so expect to have to validate it.

 

[Mess]

Their blurb with the rationale for claiming the dependant deduction states that they recognize that the 50/50 shared custody set-off is a case where both parents are technically paying support. I would say that their own policy lends credence to a claim. If it were an appeal I would point to that.

 

[KnotUntied]

I would make the claim and see what happens. But you will have to get the letter from your lawyer that sets out the % of legal fees that relate to obtaining a support order, because it an area that is highly targeted for review so expect to have to validate it.

By "% of legal fees that relate to obtaining a support order", do you mean...for all of the issues that we were in court for, what percentage of these items was specifically related to obtaining a support order? In other words, if there were 4 issues in the court outline, and 2 of them were to determine the amount of support, then 50% of the fees "should" be claimable?

Sorry, it's late in the day and the caffeine has long since worn off.