If you have less than 40% of the time with your child(ren), your monthly child support obligation is based off of your gross income. The government has provided a child support calculator to assist with estimating costs.

If both parents have more than 40% of the time with the children, child support is often more complicated. The starting point is that child support is based off the gross incomes of each party. You would calculate the child support to be paid by each parent (using the calculator, above) and set off each parents’ support obligation.  The higher income earner would pay some child support to the other.  However, this starting point can be modified depending on what each parent is actually paying for their children.  If the lower income earning spouse is buying most of the children’s clothing, activity expenses, school supplies, etc., then the “set-off” amount of child support may not be enough.  So, this calculation can be more complicated.

In addition, parties are to share certain “extra” expenses proportionately to their incomes, such as the after-tax cost of child care, expensive extra-curricular activities, exceptional educational expenses (such as private schooling or university tuition), and health expenses. These expenses are shared as a proportion of each party’s income (if one party earns $60,000 and the other $40,000, one parent would pay 60% of such expense and the other would pay 40%).

There are a number of exceptions in the Child Support Guidelines that affect how much child support that you may pay, including:

1. Gross income over $150,000 – The Guidelines say that child support may be adjusted if a payor parent earns more than $150,000 per year, because the child support amount may be “inappropriate”. Realistically, child support typically only gets adjusted based on this factor if a payor parent’s income exceeds $150,000 per year by a significant amount.  If this is a factor for you, you should seek legal advice on your child support obligation;
2. Undue hardship – There are special circumstances where child support under the Guidelines may be too much because paying such support would cause “undue hardship”. These cases are rare and it is a difficult legal test to meet.  You will likely wish to obtain legal advice with respect to this factor, if you may qualify;
3. Shared parenting – As noted above, if both parents have more than 40% of the time with a child, child support would likely be impacted;
4. Various expenses that impact income – As noted above, child support is based on a payor’s gross income. However, there can be some adjustments to that income.  Those adjustments can be found here.

Your personal income tax return and your corporate income will be reviewed to assess your child support responsibility. The starting place is your personal income tax return. Then, we look at your corporate income and determine whether some or all of that corporate income should be added to your personal income.  There are a number of factors to assess when considering corporate income, such as whether there are other shareholders, the capital obligations of the corporation, the earnings history of the corporation and whether there are personal expenses claimed by the corporation.  You should seek legal advice on your support obligations if you are self-employed or have your business.

It depends. Child support has to be paid for “children”, which is defined as a child who is under the age of 18 or­ is over 18 years old and unable to withdraw from their parents’ charge by reason of illness, disability or other cause.

A child who is attending university full-time and does not have significant resources/income is generally considered to still be a “child” because they cannot be self-sufficient.  The amount of child support to be paid for such a child will vary depending on whether the child resides at home while going to school, has a part-time job, has savings, has access to student loans or bursaries, etc. 

The presumption is that the family home is divided equally, regardless of whether one party owned it before the marriage. In some cases, though, it can be argued that an equal division of the family home would be unfair because of an extraordinary circumstance. For instance, a very short spousal relationship with one spouse owning the home beforehand, has been found to be an “extraordinary” circumstance.

With the balance of the property, the presumption is that any property that was acquired during the course of the spousal relationship should be divided equally. If one party owns an asset before the spousal relationship (other than the family home), the presumption is that the value of that asset as of the beginning of the spousal relationship should not be divided. For instance, if a spouse owns an RRSP for $15,000 at the beginning of the spousal relationship and that RRSP is worth $50,000 at the end of the spousal relationship, the first $15,000 of that RRSP is not divided.

There are exceptions and special circumstances that may make the “general rules” regarding property division inapplicable.

Determining the value of a business is often quite complicated. Frequently, lawyers will obtain the assistance of accountants or chartered business valuators to value the shares of a business. Thus, a “general rule” is not really possible to use for this type of a complicated analysis. You should seek legal advice in valuing your business.

There are a number of factors that could be considered in deciding not to equally divide property, such as:

1. Gifts from third parties or inheritances;
2. The debts of a spouse;
3. The taxes that are inherent in certain types of property (such as RRSPs which take a tax hit when they are withdrawn); and
4. Assets “dissipated” by a spouse (including gifts or transfers of property just before or after separation).

How to do I protect my property when marrying or living with someone? A pre-nuptial or cohabitation agreement can set out what each person is entitled to after a separation. Both parties should sign such agreements with their own lawyers (not at the same firm). Also, both parties should be clear as to what they own and owe at the date that the agreement is signed.