Most divorcing couples have every intention of supporting their children. So why does child support get so contentious?
For many couples, child support will be utterly straightforward. Yet there are exceptions. When those exceptions arise, our team is there to help you work out a fair child support settlement that you can live with. After all, it doesn’t benefit your children if you end up unable to pay child support, or end up with a child support amount that is too small to meet their needs.
Here’s what you need to know about child support in Surrey, BC.
Child Support Guidelines
Most parents will just use the Federal Child Support guidelines. This guideline sets an amount based on the number of children and the income of the payor. This model works well for parents who earn a steady income and who make less than $350,000 in income. It also works well for children who have standard needs.
Child support gets complicated in other circumstances. When a parent’s income varies, how should it be calculated? What about when the parent is a business owner? There could be multiple ways of calculating income, and each could produce wildly different results. What if the child has special needs? They might need more than the standard amount of child support.
High-income parents face a different problem. Once the paying parent makes an excess of $350,000 per year the amount of money offered by the guidelines tends to get ridiculous. And the courts allow deviations once the earning power exceeds $150,000, as child support is not meant to serve as a wealth transfer between the paying parent and the ex. What constitutes a “fair” amount in these circumstances? How much of a reduction from the guidelines should the payee accept?
These are the types of tough scenarios we help our clients solve every single day.
If you make a standard, steady income and already know that your child will be living primarily with the other parent, you can use the support tables to see what your child support payment is likely to be. Note that no judge will approve any divorce order that does not include adequate child support. You are always welcome to pay more than the guidelines demand, but you can never pay less unless you make $150,000 or more.
Child Support Section 7
Section 7 expenses are special expenses.
They can cover a special needs child’s ongoing medical or psychiatric care, or their special education and training costs. They can cover private school expenses when the child has been accustomed to going to private school prior to the divorce. The child should suffer from as few disadvantages as possible when the divorce ends. These amounts would generally be added to the standard child support amount.
There are also one-off expenses such as braces, broken arms, special extracurricular opportunities, and other such costs that can arise. In a well-written parenting order there will be provisions for paying those expenses. For example, a high-earning parent may agree to pay a little more monthly in return for the understanding that the payee will handle any special expenses that arise. Or parents can agree that these expenses will be reimbursed at a rate of 50% per expense upon submission of a receipt.
There is a great deal of room for negotiation in regards to Section 7 expenses, but they should be addressed. Once these expenses are recorded in your parenting orders, you can have them collected and enforced through the British Columbia Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP). This is one of the easiest ways to handle these payments, as they both minimize contact between the exes and provide a record of expenses paid.
Child Support Imputed Income
Imputed income is income assigned by the
There are two scenarios which can lead to the courts imputing income. The first scenario is a scenario in which a business owner might have different methods of computing income. The courts usually take a three year average unless there are bonuses or corporate benefits that can push the normal income up.
The second is a scenario in which a judge has reason to suspect that a child support payor has become deliberately become underemployed or unemployed. In this case the judge will look at the payor’s employment history and health history and set a number based on what the judge thinks the payor should be capable of earning.
Equal Parenting Time
When one parent has less than 41% parenting time, that parent pays child support.
If both parents have more than 41% parenting time, then child support is calculated differently. The Guidelines say that in such cases, both parents look at the amount they’d normally pay. Then the lower amount is subtracted from the higher amount, and the higher earning parent pays the difference.
This can sometimes lead parents to suspect that their ex is pushing for more parenting time solely to pay less child support. It’s important to be careful with this assumption. Those motives may well factor in, but the courts might not care. In general they’d like to foster relationships between parents and their children any way they can do it. We don’t recommend making an issue of this in most cases, not unless the parent offers some sort of danger to the child. There are always ways to make a divorce settlement fair and balanced.
For more information, see Child Custody & Access.
Get Help Today
Our team has helped divorcees navigate the toughest and least straightforward child support arrangements in the world. We can help you as well. High earning parents turn to us, entrepreneurs and business owners turn to us, parents of special needs children turn to us, and you can turn to us, too.
We’re known for being tough litigators and savvy negotiators. We can make sure you and your children are treated fairly throughout the process.
Call 1-604-394-7777 to set up your initial appointment today.