Child support help for parents getting a divorce in Canada

Parents who are getting a divorce in Canada, or parents who already have their divorce, must adhere to the federal child maintenance guidelines when determining their financial responsibility for their children. Before the guidelines became law in 1997 it was more difficult to know what a court would decide was a fair amount child support. Because of this uncertainty there were more disputes and more cases went to trial. Now, all you usually need to do is examine the guidelines to see the appropriate child support amount.

The core component to the guidelines is the child support tables. There is an individual table for each province, and the province used is the one where the parent who pays support resides. For parents who live outside the country, the residence for the custodial parent is used to decide on the table. To determine the amount of child support, all you need to do is to refer to the appropriate table.

Once you've selected the right provincial table, it's simply a process of cross-indexing the number of kids with the gross annual income of the parent who is paying the support. This shows precisely what the child support amount should be for each month. This is the amount that the court will expect you to agree to unless you are able to show why another amount might be more suitable. If you wish to use another amount, you'll have to say why, using the other guidelines. The fact that both parents are agreeing to another amount won't be counted as a sufficient explanation. If the court isn't satisfied that the guidelines support the amount in question, the court will impose the amount that it finds more appropriate for the situation.

Some of the recurring justifications for deviating from the guideline table amount include instances with an unusually more complex child care arrangement. For the most part, one parent is the primary caretaker, while the other one gets to visit the children based on a fixed schedule or based on an arrangement which fluctuates from time to time. In cases like these, it is appropriate to use the guideline table amount.

However, when the children spend roughly equal time with each parent, or where some children primarily live with Mom while other children primarily live with Dad, a departure from the table amount is often warranted. In such cases it is common to figure out what each parent should pay the other according to the tables and then subtracting those amounts. One parent then pays the difference to the other.

Other instances that merit exceptions are cases where the parent with access has high costs (such as extensive transportation expenses) and has a standard of living which is less than that of the other parent.

As a general rule of thumb, child support must be paid for any child that has not reached the age of majority, as well as for any child who is attending college full time, particularly if the parents have agreed to pay for the schooling.

So, the guidelines, and especially the tables, have made it easier to determine the appropriate amount of child support. However, special circumstances still require a bit of fine tuning.

Article Source: http://www.where-to-find.net

The author is an seasoned Canadian divorce lawyer who has created and operates an online do-it-yourself divorce website. Howard encourages you to check out his site and would be pleased to assist you with your divorce. Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.