Child Support over 18

Many support payors and recipients in Canada think that child support is payable only until a child turns 18. In fact, that is not correct.

In Canada, child support is payable to young persons, even over the age of 18, who for good reason are not able to withdraw from their parents' financial assistance. What are such "good reasons"? There can be two (or a combination of them):

1. a child attends school (for example, university or college, but there may be other schools which would qualify) - depending on the financial resources of the parents, support may continue even after one degree is completed; or

2. for medical reasons, a young person over 18 cannot become financially independent (for example, the child has a long term disability or was involved in an accident and is recovering).

One very common scenario we get questions about is the following:

Fictional Chloe attends Fictional University and is in her 3rd year. Early in the second term, she is in a car accident and is unable to finish the year. By the beginning of the 4th year, she is not able to return to school full-time and can only take a half-course load, for medical reasons. We get asked: is she still entitled to child support? - the answer is "yes" - that is because she is still "a child of the marriage", which is a phrase used to describe a young person who either for medical reasons or because she remains at school cannot become financially independent. In this scenario, it's a bit of both - she is not in school for medical reasons but would otherwise be - child support remains payable even when she is taking less than a full course load.

UPDATE - January, 2018

We are pleased to let you know that our Etsy shop is now OPEN!

Visit it here: SELFREP SUPPORT

In the shop, we make available to you Manuals (E-books) on various topics, to assist you in representing yourself before Ontario's family law Courts.

So far, we have Manuals on preparing an effective:

• Financial Statement (both long-form and short-form); and
• Affidavit.

MORE MANUALS TO COME! 

Child Support is the Right of a Child

We were recently involved in an arbitration which addressed the following question: "Can parents ever make final arrangements as to child support?" For example, can one spouse agree not to seek child support from the other or to accept less support that the law would provide?

I think that most people would be surprised by this question. They would respond: "Of course they can - only parents know what is best for their children and if they agree with each other what support, if any, should be paid, it's their business and no one else's".

The issue is not as simple as that. In fact, child support is the right of a child and not the right of either parent. Parents do not have the right to bargain with that support. This has been confirmed in a number of court decisions, the most notable one being that of the Supreme Court of Canada in Richardson v. Richardson.

Simply put, courts in Canada retain the right to interfere in "deals" made by parents where such deals do not provide for adequate child support. The measuring sticks are, firstly, the Child Support Guidelines (federal or provincial, as applicable). There are situations in which a parent can demonstrate that even where the terms of the deal are a departure from the Guidelines, the support is reasonable in the specific circumstances of the case.

Here is the issue: arrangements made between parents which do not consider, in advance, the courts' "big daddy" role when it comes to child support and the best interests of children may be vulnerable down the road so it's best to seek legal advice on this issue. Specific wording in a separation agreement, for example, can address this point to a great extent (and also deal with the expectations of the courts' when considering a request for a divorce...which is a subject we tackle in another post)......