The Vancouver BC child support lawyers at the MacLean Family Law Group have handled hundreds of BC child support cases involving both children under the age of majority and children over the age of majority. The age of maturity in British Columbia is 19 years of age. For child support purposes this stage is a critical factor to be considered in a British Columbia child support case. We are here to help. Call us toll free at 1-877-602-9900 to book an appointment at any of our 4 offices across the province which are located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna, and Fort St. John or the click here to complete an initial consultation form for a child support issue consultation.
Many of our clients seem to think that their obligation to pay child support ends when the child reaches the age of 19. This is not ALWAYS true. The Divorce Act and Family Relations Act, as well as the Child Support Guidelines, place an obligation on the non-custodial parent to pay child support based on that parent’s gross income as long as the child remains the ‘child of the marriage’.
A ‘child of the marriage’ can be a child who is over the age of 19 and who remains dependent on his or her parents for support. In cases where the child is disabled or pursues post secondary education, that child is presumed to be dependent on his or her parents. In this sense, the parents are presumed to be required to provide child support until that child achieves self sufficiency or finishes post secondary education. Obviously, in today’s competitive society higher education is a laudable goal. The courts balance what is reasonable by way of a contribution from the parents taking into account that the child must also do their best to assist in paying for their education so they begin to take their 1st steps to independence as an adult. In many cases parents are fully supportive of a child’s realistic co-secondary education attempts however the courts are also aware that the child has a duty to make realistic efforts to complete their postsecondary education in a reasonable period of time. Other issues arise as to how many degrees should the parents be required to pay for should be the 1st degree or should payment of child support include postgraduate degree expenses?
Sometimes children attend a college or enrol in a program simply because ‘they have nothing better to do’. Understandably, some parents do not want to pay child support when their child attends post secondary but achieves poor grades and is financially irresponsible. No one wants to encourage a child to remain dependent and irresponsible, living off his or her parents’ support. The court are not always inclined to order the non-custodial parent to pay child support when such support further discourages the child from achieving practical and realistic goals.
When there is a dispute regarding child support of an adult child who attends post secondary education, the courts look at the following factors to determine the amount of support, if any, the non-custodial parent should pay:
New Federal Child Support Guidelines Table Lawyer Lorne MacLean
Lorne MacLean QC notes New federal child support guidelines table amounts have been announced by the federal government and they will take effect shortly. The new tables are part of the Canadian government’s commitment to review the table amounts every 5 years.
We have 4 offices located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St. John British Columbia. Call us at any one of these 4 offices if you need help with a child support issue or any other family matter. We can’t protect your heart but we will protect your rights. Our toll-free number is 1-877-602-9900.
As British Columbia’s largest and most diverse family law, Vancouver child support guidelines and BC spousal support law firm with 10 lawyers and 4 offices located in Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St. John BC we have handled hundreds of family law support claims over the past 28 years.
A parent’s annual income for payment of child support is presumptively determined by using the sources of income set out under the heading “Total Income” of the T1 General Income Tax Return, with specified adjustments required by the Schedules to the Child Support Guidelines. However, to simply look at “total income” on Line 150 of a payor’s previous year’s tax return may result in an unfair determination of the income actually available for payment of child support. The tax returns of the payor may not be the most recent or accurate information on this issue. It is important to scrutinize each source of income to determine whether adjustments must be made or if more information is required.
In some cases, it may be appropriate to impute income to the payor additional to that declared by them for tax purposes. For example, if the payor parent is a shareholder, director or officer of a company, and as a result has control over the amount of income payable to him or her, the Court can attribute to them all or part of the pre-tax income of the company in the calculation of Child Support Guideline income for payment of child support, or an amount commensurate with the payor’s services to the company provided that this does not exceed the pre-tax income of the company (section 18 of the Guidelines). (more…)
Kelowna and Vancouver BC Family Lawyer Lorne MacLean
As British Columbia family lawyers, we handle dozens of Vancouver spousal support and BC child support applications and trials at each of our 4 offices across British Columbia located in downtown Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St. John British Columbia.Contact us
Imputed or attributed income is often raised in these BC spousal support and Vancouver spousal support cases. Attributed income is income that will be added to a spouse’s actual income if they are underemployed or refusing to work to their full capacity. Attribution of income is often added to paying spouses incomes in child support cases but is also added to receiving spouses in cases where spousal support is an issue or where there is shared custody or special and extraordinary expenses that are shared in proportion to each spouse’s income.
We also deal with cases where parties move on after their separation or divorce and have new families and new obligations. The issue of imputed income can also arise in a 1st family context if one parent is required or wants to stay at home to parent an infant child. Sometimes this issue will arise in the context of a child custody case where one parent says they should be given custody because they are not working and are staying at home full-time for the child. Courts will need to consider if it is appropriate to allow a parent to do that in the case of the custody dispute and on the issue of spousal support for the parent who argues they should be allowed to stay at home to look after the child.
When new family obligations arise the courts are asked to weigh the liabilities of the paying spouse to their 1st family while at the same time considering the 2nd family must be supported as well. The weight of case law is in favour of the 1st family not suffering.
But a new BC Court of Appeal case addressed what reduction if any should be made to a paying mother’s child support payments after she gave birth to a newborn and she went on maternity leave.
Shelagh Kinney Senior Family Associate BC Child Support Lawyer
As September approaches, we are often asked for advice on the issue of contribution to BC private school costs by separated and/or divorced parents.
In addition to paying monthly child support, BC child support orders or agreements may provide for payment of an additional amount to cover all or a portion of certain listed expenses, including primary or secondary school education costs, and other educational programs such as tutoring and of course University tuition.
Pursuant to section 7 of the Child Support Guidelines, the factors taken into account by the Court in determining whether to order this additional BC child support are the necessity of the expense in relation to the child’s best interests and the reasonableness of the expense in relation to the means of the spouses and those of the child and to the family’s spending pattern prior to the separation. (more…)
ਵੰਕੋਉਵੇਰ ਏੰਡ ਸੁਰ੍ਰੀ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਦਿਵੋਰ੍ਸ ਏੰਡ ਫੈਮਿਲੀ ਲਾਵ੍ਯਰ -Vancouver and Surrey Punjabi Divorce and Family Lawyers -Retroactive Child Support Free Video. We have 4 law offices throughout BC and our lawyers are fluent in Punjabi, Hindi, Cantonese and Farsi in addition to English. Sumit Ahuja our Surrey office associate, explains how corrections to BC child support are made and the duties of each parent to correct child support to ensure the child’s right to be supported continues after marriage breakdown. Lorne MacLean has provided a detailed free child support video in English and we provide this version for our Punjabi speaking clients.
We as Vancouver, Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St John child support, divorce and family lawyers have handled a number of spousal and child support retroactive cases including an interim retroactive support award case called J v J . Our client was ecstatic when we obtained one of the highest interim awards of spousal and child support for our client which approached $30,000 per month combined, together with substantial retroactive child support.
We have also represented numerous clients where we have sought to retroactively correct child support upward to reflect increases in the paying spouses incomes as well as to retroactively correct downward support based on a paying spouse’s lower income on the basis that the paying spouses should pay support on the proper income under the guidelines.
If you want to correct spousal or child support retroactively call us at any of our 4 offices province wide or fill out our contact form so we can begin to assist you.
A good summary of the obligations each spouse has in this area can be found at the Justice Canada website: (more…)
As BC basic and special and extraordinary expense child support lawyers with family law offices located across BC in Vancouver, Fort St John, Kelowna and Surrey we are often asked questions about basic BC child support and on the necessity and reasonableness of extraordinary expenses which are also called Section 7 Expenses. We tell people that basic child support is only a floor not a ceiling for support payments.
It is a well-known and accepted fact that both parents have an ongoing obligation to support their children financially after a marriage breakdown.
What remains less clear is the amount that is owed by each parent beyond the basic table amount.
While the Federal Child Support Guidelines have been of great assistance to separated parents, the Guidelines do not always provide a straightforward answer in respect to the amount a parent will be required to pay.
The presumptive rule of the of the Guidelines is contained in section 3(1), and provides: (more…)
Divorce Lawyer, Lorne MacLean Wins at the Calgary Registry of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench
As British Columbia spousal and child support lawyers we are often asked when a BC lump sum spousal and child support award will be made. It is important to note that child support payments whether lump sum or periodic are not tax deductible. Spousal support payments are tax-deductible if paid on a periodic basis and on most occasions this will mean monthly payments are being made. Lump-sum spousal support payments are not tax deductible and so it is important when deciding whether to settle for a lump sum payment or when asking for or opposing a lump-sum payment in court that the lump-sum payment reflects the lack of tax deductibility as well as the fact that the money is being paid up front so that a correct figure is reached for settlement or by way of a court decision.
Lump sum support payments are rarely made in British Columbia and the recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in the case of Wu v. Sun [2011] BCJ No. 914 considered factors that justified the award of a lump sum spousal award in concluding that an award of $500,000-$750,000 was an appropriate award to give to a wife from the net sale proceeds of a family home. In coming to the conclusion that a lump sum award of this magnitude was appropriate the court noted: (more…)
Lorne MacLean Business Asset Lawyer-New BC Family Relations Act Property Changes Coming!
MacLean Family Law Group provides divorce and BC family asset, marital property and family business or “other asset” division strategies. We have been handling medium to high net worth family property division cases for nearly 30 years and have one of the best and largest family law firms in Western Canada with four offices located in downtown Vancouver, South Surrey, Kelowna and Fort St John, BC. You can call us at any office or toll free at 1-877-602-9900. We speak English, Cantonese, 我們為客户瓣理離婚手續, 財產分配， 小孩撫養權 Punjabi, Farsi and Hindi.溫哥華離婚律師
Medium to high net worth asset, company, professional practice, trust and income cases that we handle include:
-prenuptial and marriage agreements to create a separate property regime and protect assets;
-discretionary and contingent trust interests as family assets and sources of income for spouses and their children;
-financial statement analysis to value a business on a liquidation, going concern through multiple of earnings basis;
-valuation dates issues where assets go up and down in value after separation or where assets have been disposed of;
-special shares as many people do not understand that voting and non voting shares have different values and rights:
-valuing a book of business for stock brokers and other professionals;
-split pension amounts and lump sum pension valuations to detertmine the real value as opposed to improperly using much lower contribution values;
-non-arms-length payments correction for calculating each spouse’s guideline incomes and strategies to divide company profits before and after trial;
-analysis of company or professional working capital as it impacts support and equalization payments;
-imputed income from employment for both the paying and receiving spouse and how capital is used based on cases following the Leskun, Supreme Court of Canada case Mr. MacLean represented the husband in.
Significant family property division changes are due to take effect immediately and different strategies apply to whether you want to start a claim immediately or not. Don’t be in the dark-call us.
Mr. MacLean was one of the first family lawyers in BC to seek restraining Orders to divide profits from a family business before trial in half rather than merely seeking spousal support in a much lower amount. Mr. MacLean also successfully reapportioned a business in front of the husband and business owner 75/25 in his favour-a rarity! If you need aggressive and focused stratgeies in cases involving claiming or defending a division of these assets call us immediately at any of our 4 offices throughout British Columbia. Delay only makes things worse in many cases.
1.877.602.9900
