Of all the issues or disputes that may be brought before the court, there are few less absolute and non-fixed than Table Child Support, which is enshrined in the Child Support Guidelines (“Guidelines”). However, there are exceptions to the rule.
Undue Hardship
When combined with other circumstances, the amount of child support determined by the Guidelines may result in undue hardship, in which case a different child support amount may be appropriate. To make a claim for undue hardship, one must demonstrate that your current circumstances would make it difficult to: 1) pay the required amount or support the child on the amount of child support you receive; and that your household’s standard of living is lower than the other parent’s household’s standard of living. While such claims are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, there are a couple of circumstances recognized in the Guidelines: i) unusually high debts reasonably incurred to support the family before the separation or to earn a living; ii) unusually high costs associated with exercising parenting time with a child; iii) a legal duty to support a dependent child from another relationship; or iv) a legal duty to support any other person, such as a former spouse or a new spouse who is too ill or disabled to be able to support himself or herself. This list is not exhaustive nor definitive, and it should be noted that either parent can make a claim for undue hardship.
More Than One Support Payor
While the Guidelines do not elaborate or go into detail regarding this situation, caselaw has provided a general understanding that more than one support payor will not necessarily result in each payor being responsible for the full table amount. Unfortunately, the outcomes have not created a consistent formulaic approach.
While not necessarily an exception, section 8 (shared parenting time – where the non-primary parent exercises not less than 40% of parenting time) provides for a reduction in the table amount, again not formulaic but at the discretion of the court on a case-by-case basis.
Knowing whether one of these exceptions applies to your family matter is important to determining child support considerations, whether you are the recipient or the payor.
The experienced Family Law Team at Boardwalk Law LLP is happy to help with your separation/divorce or family law issues.
Please contact Brandon Machado, Associate Lawyer at Boardwalk Law, at [email protected] / 905.798.5509 to book a consultation today.
