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Misrepresenting Income: Are You Entitled to Spousal Support?
Are You Entitled to Spousal Support Increase if Your Spouse Misrepresents Income? If you negotiate a separation agreement, but later find out that your ex-spouse understated his or her income, are you entitled to spousal support in a higher amount? The answer depends on factors such as the grounds for entitlement to spousal support, whether […]
Stobo v. Stobo: Changing a Spousal Support Agreement
Applicants must ensure that they utilize the proper procedure for making changes to a spousal support agreement. The correct procedure will depend on a number of factors, such as whether spousal support is payable under the terms of a Divorce Order or pursuant to an agreement between the parties. The importance of proper procedure is […]
Divorce Law BC: Post-Separation Expenses
Upon divorce BC law (Family Law Act) and federal law (Divorce Act) apply to issues such as child support, spousal support, and division of property. The effective application of these laws will be hampered where the spouses fail to make meaningful financial disclosure about their post-separation expenses and income. The process can also be hampered […]
Calculating Income for Child Support: Proving Business Expenses and Why It Matters
Where a parent is self-employed or controls a corporation, who bears the burden of proof to demonstrate that certain business expense deductions are reasonable for the purposes of calculating income for child support? The short answer is the person who is claiming them. Proving expenses when calculating income for child support In Cunningham v. Seveny, […]
How Is Child Support Calculated If Income Is Over $150,000?
I am often asked, how is child support calculated where one parent’s income is over $150,000? Rigid application of the Federal Child Support Table may result in child support payments that are so in excess of the children’s reasonable needs that they are more in the nature of household equalization, a functional wealth transfer between […]
Deemed Dividends: How Is Child Support Calculated?
How is child support calculated where the payor parent has unusual forms or patterns of income or is able to manipulate their income for tax purposes? For example, in Andreassen v. Andreassen, 2016 BCSC 1196 the court was asked: how is child support calculated when it comes to dividend income? In that case, the recipient parent sought […]
Retroactive Child Support and Structure of Support Reviews
The Court of Appeal for British Columbia recently discussed the interpretation of provisions in a separation agreement regarding spousal support and the effective date of notice with respect to retroactive child support. In Chu v. Eastman, 2016 BCCA 331 Dickson J.A. affirmed the following principles: Where a party asserts that a spousal support review provision in a […]
No Deemed Blameworthiness for Retroactive Child Support
The Supreme Court of Canada articulated the test for retroactive child support in D.B.S. v. S.G.R., 2006 SCC 37. Since then, the nuances of retroactive child support (such as when should it be ordered, for what period, and in what quantum) continue to be the subject of interpretation and commentary. The Ontario Court of Appeal […]
Retroactive Reduction of Back Child Support
The factors a court must consider before making an order for back child support were identified by the Supreme Court of Canada in D.B.S. v. S.R.G., 2006 SCC 37. In that case, the recipient parent sought an increase in child support payments with retroactive effect to reflect an increase in the payor parent’s income. But what about a […]
The Scale of Blameworthiness: When Does Child Support Start?
Once a court determines that a retroactive child support award should be ordered, it must then decide on the date of retroactivity; in other words, when does child support start given the circumstances? In Brown v. Kucher, 2016 BCCA 267, the Court of Appeal was tasked with ranking a payor parent’s conduct on a scale […]