Tag: Child Support Ontario
Does The Court Consider A High Cost Of Living During Child Support?
The court always looks for what amount could be appropriate for the best lifestyle of the children; this has to be based on the supporting parent’s income. Every state has its own guidelines to determine the suitable level of child support. But since child support rules vary according to province or territory, both spouses should get help from family law lawyers, Brampton.
High Cost Of Living And Child Support
If you are a parent paying child support, the court will look at your gross income from all sources. But if your child support is being affected by your high cost of living either due to other children, or other deductibles, the issue can be addressed through the change of circumstance. But, the court can only change child custody orders when they believe the change of circumstances to be just and equitable. Where child support seems to be affected by the high cost of living, judges are prone to deviate from the set guidelines where the paying parent:
- Has exceptionally high or low income
- Have many unreimbursed expenses such as medical expenses
- Have kids with special needs such as disabled children
- He/she is upgrading their professional career and has education expenses
The court will look at many more factors to determine how you high costs of living may affect child support. For instance, you may have taken a loan to buy a leisure car; definitely, the court will not be inclined to lower your child support under such obligations.
What Determines Child Support?
It not uncommon for some parents to lower their income levels to lure the court to decrease child support obligations. In such cases, where a parent may have left employment willfully or is underemployed, the court imputes an income. Where such reasons are unjustifiable, such a parent will have to pay for child support. Typically, the child support amount is based on:
- The income of the parent paying support
- The number of children needing support
If the judge is satisfied that your high cost of living will affect child support, this can be modified. However, the judge must first decide whether such costs affect the support being accorded to the child. And if such cost seems to interfere with how such a parent spends time or communicate with their child, then both parents can agree to modify the terms of child support. Where it’s impossible to agree, then one parent may be forced to file a motion and request the judge for such a change. Again for the modification to take effect, one must prove the change of circumstances.
According to Federal child support guidelines, there is a set of rules and tables used to determine what parents should contribute to their child support. These are set to ensure children can advance their best interest and get the required level of support from both parents. But such tables provide flexibility to special expenses such as exceptionally high income or daycare expenses, among others.
Motion To Change Child Support
Steps For Motion to Change Child Support
If you have landed on this page, you may have searched for Motion to Change on Google. DivorceGo is here to help you file a motion to change child support.
After a final Order has been made by a Judge with respect to monthly child support payments, circumstances may arise that warrant changes be made to the original final Order. You will likely have to bring a motion to change child support. The procedure to bring about these changes to the Order has been outlined in Section 15 of the Family Law Rules. This process entails bringing a motion to change or modify child support payments.
A motion to change child support may be brought before judge when there is material change in the financial circumstances of the payor spouse or when there is material change in the financial circumstances of the receiving child. Example of this are:
- The payor spouse is making less or more money since the final Order was made;
- The receiving child is now self-sufficient in terms of financial support; and
- The living arrangement of the receiving child has change
This motion to change child support implies asking the Judge to consider the new facts that have emerged since the final Order and therefore change the original final Order accordingly.
If you plan to bring a motion to change monthly child support payments, you will require evidence to put forth in front a Judge in order to argue why a change is required to the original final Order. It is thus imperative to collect documents such as: a copy of an existing child support Order, copies of Income Tax Returns including T4 slips, pay stubs, ROE or severance documentation (if applicable) and medical reports (if income deduction is attributed to health related factors). These are some examples of documents that may be helpful for your motion and are not meant to be an exhaustive list. The evidence you need to consolidate depends entirely on the nature of your circumstance. Therefore, retaining a lawyer to bring a motion to change child support can prove to be highly beneficial for this purpose as they can advise on how to build a solid case ready with all the necessary documents for your matter.
Generally a motion to change may be brought utilizing two approaches
The first approach is when both parties agree to the changes to be made to the original Final Order. This is called a Consent Motion. In this case all parties involved complete and file with the court: Form 15D, Consent Motion to Change Child Support, which is to be signed by each party and any assignees. You then are required to file in Court 5 copies of a draft Order. You must then complete a Support Deduction Order Information Form and then have a draft Support Deduction Order filed in court. The Clerk at the court will bring these documents before the Judge. For a motion to change, no case conference is required and neither are the parties required to attend court, unless otherwise instructed by the Court. Once the Order has been signed, the Clerk will provide the signed order or they may contact to parties to instead attend court.
In the second approach, where there is no consent between the parties on the issue of changing the original final Order, a motion to change is also brought. In this case, the moving party (the party bringing the motion) completes Form 15 Motion to Change and Form 15A Change Information Form. Once completed these forms must be brought, including any additional supporting documents, to the family court office. The clerk will then affix the seal on the first page of form 15 and will date and sign the second page of form 15. This process had effectively issued your Motion to Change Child Support. The Clerk will also mark a box on the form which will either specify whether a first court date has been scheduled or no court has been scheduled. Immediately following this your documents become ready to be served.
Keep in mind depending on where your matter is being heard, a first court date may or may not be assigned. If your matter is being heard at the Family Law Branch at the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice, a first court date will likely be set. However, if you’re matter is proceeding before the Superior Court of Justice, the responding party will need to request a case conference in order to have the motion go forward.
Once the motion to change has been issued, you are required to serve a copy of the documents on the responding party. The documents which you must serve are:
Form 15 Motion to Change
Form 15A Change Information Form
Form 13 or Form 13.1 (Financial Statement if required)
A blank copy of Form 15B Response to Motion to Change
A blank copy of 15C Consent Motion to Change
You are required to serve these documents by a special service, which implies that the documents must be left either with the person or alternatively with the person’s lawyer. Following successful and valid service, the person who served the documents must fill out form 6B Affidavit of Service and have the filed at the appropriate court.
After the motion to change child support has been served on the responding party, within 30 days of being served they can either complete form 15C Consent Motion to Change or serve on the moving party and file in court Form15B Response to Motion to Change.
If Form 15C is signed then that implies the parties have reached an agreement with respect to the change sought in the original final Order. However, if Form 15B is served on the moving party and filed in court, that implies no agreement has been reached and the parties will further proceed to court to have a Judge make a new ruling in the matter.
We hope that this information has been helpful. If you need to setup a free consultation with a lawyer, you can contact our Family Law Lawyer at 416-792-5400.
Here are some helpful resources that provide more information about Motions to Change Child Support in Ontario:
How to bring a motion to change
How to vary a child support order
Filing or change support payments
Consent Motion to Change
WHAT IS CHILD SUPPORT IN ONTARIO?
When parents no longer continue to reside with each other, an arrangement is usually made in terms of which parent the children may live with and for how long. Usually, the parent with which the children reside most of time is entitled to obtain from the other parent expenses relating to raising the children. This is called child support.
ELIGIBILITY FOR CHILD SUPPORT IN ONTARIO
Payment of Child Support is determined by the living arrangement of the Child or Children. If the child or children live most of the time with one parent, then the other parent must pay. In the event that the parents spend an equal amount of time in rearing the child or children, child support is still payable. In such a situation, the parent with the higher income will normally be required to pay the net difference in the parties respective applicable amounts as specified in the Federal Child Support Guidelines.
HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT IN ONTARIO CALCULATED?
There are Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Child Support guidelines that specify how much child support is payable. The amount of child support is usually calculated in relation to the paying parent’s annual income. However, you must first determine which Child Support Guideline is applicable to your situation:
1)If you are divorced or have applied for a divorce then the Federal Child Support Guideline will apply. You can calculate the amount of child support payable under the Federal Guidelines here.
2)If you were never married or were married and are separated (and neither parent has applied for a divorce) then the Provincial or Territorial Child Support Guidelines apply. You can view the Ontario child support tables here.
HOW CAN I GET CHILD SUPPORT IN ONTARIO?
Depending on whether you are entitled to receive Child Support, you can arrange child support to be paid to you in the following ways:
- Online using this Ontario Government Website. You can use this service if you are setting up child support for the first time. Please click here to go the website.
- A written agreement between you and the other parent;
- In accordance with a court Order. If you are faced with an uncooperative parent, you may go to the court to obtain an Order for child support to be paid to you. Please click here for some helpful information regarding filing or changing child support.
HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT IN ONTARIO IS ENFORCED
The Family Responsibility Office is an Ontario Government office that enforces Child Support payments. All Orders for Child Support made by the Courts are automatically filed in the FRO. Separation Agreements may also be filed in the FRO provided they have also been filed in Court.
The Family Responsibility Office collects the child support payments from the payor parent and then either mails a cheque or directly deposits the support payments into the recipient parent’s account.
In the event the payor parent misses support payments there are a number of ways the FRO can collect unpaid payments:
- It may deduct payments automatically from the parent’s wages or income;
- A charge may be registered against the parent’s personal property or real estate;
- It may garnish the parent’s bank account or up to half of joint bank accounts the Parent may have;
- An Order may be made against anyone who is helping a parent hide their income or assets that may go towards unpaid child support.
If a parent continues to not make payments, the FRO may exert pressure on that parent in the following way:
- It may suspend that parent’s driver license;
- It may cancel the parent’s passport;
- The parent may be reported to credit bureaus, making it difficult for them to obtain a loan.
The Family Responsibility Office can collect unpaid payments from across Canada, the US and any other country with which Ontario has an agreement.
Keep in mind that if a change is required to the amount of support payments, the FRO cannot be asked to make that change. If a parent believes a change in support payments is warranted, that change must be reflected in either a new Agreement or you can go before a court and ask to have the support Order changed.
NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER: The material posted on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. If you are in need of legal advice relating to your particular situation it is highly recommended to consult with a Toronto divorce lawyer.