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Family Law Resources
Question and Answer
How is child support calculated?
The first step in determining the appropriate amount of child support is to determine the payor parent’s total annual income, before taxes. Annual income is the money a person earns from employment and self-employment and income from investments. This includes all sources of income in the payor parent’s tax return (for example: salary, wages, commissions, Employment Insurance, Social Assistance).
Each province has their own separate tables and the appropriate table is the province where the payor parent resides. If the payor parent resides outside Canada, then the appropriate table is that provincial table for the province in which the recipient parent resides.
Are there any circumstances where the table amount of child support does not have to be paid?
Yes, there are a number of exceptions to the table amount of child support: incomes over $150,000, step children, split and shared parenting arrangements, etc. Please see our Law Letter Child Support Guidelines: Special Circumstances.
How is child support calculated in a shared parenting situation?
The determination of child support in a shared parenting situation can be complicated. The Supreme Court of Canada has set out the principles in the Contino v. Leonelli-Contino case. There are many factors to consider in determining an appropriate amount of child support in a shared parenting situation: table amount of child support, child care expenses and tax deduction for child care expenses, extra curricular activity expenses and tax dedcution for extra curriruclar activites, dependent tax deduction, Child Tax Credit, Universal Child Care Benefit, etc. You should consult with an experienced family law lawyer.
My spouse wants to move out of the province with my children. Will she be allowed to by the courts?
There are a number of factors that a court will consider when deciding whether it is in children's best interest to move out of province with one parent. Since the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Gordon v. Goertz, there has been a great deal of litigation on this issue. You need to consult an experienced family law lawyer on this issue.
My ex-spouse has not updated his child support payments in a number of years but I know his/her income has increased. Can I go back and get the child support updated from a number of years ago?
You may well be able to make a claim for a retoractive claim for child support. The Supreme Court of Canada has put an onus on the payor parent to keep the other parent informed of any increases in their incomes. See the D.B.S. v. S.R.G. decision.
My same sex partner and I wish to have a child through surrogacy. Is it true that we will have to adopt the child after birth?
Amendents to the Nova Scotia Vital Statistics Act in September of 2007 make it no longer necessary to adopt a child born through artifical insemination or surrogacy. However, a stream lined court application needs to be made to have the both parties declared to be the child's parents.
Law Letters
Matrimonial Property Brochure
Adoption
Traveling with children
Traveling with your child this summer?
Child Support Guidelines
Child Support Guidelines: Special Circumstances
Links
Boyne Clarke
Lawyer For The Injured
Look up Child Support On Line
Child Support Guidelines
The Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules – Court of Appeal and Supreme Court
Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society
Nova Scotia Family Court
Nova Scotia Department of Justice
Department of Justice Canada – Child Support
Statutes and Regulations of Nova Scotia
News
Picking up the pieces when families break up
Changes to child support came into effect May 1, 2006