Changes considered include starting with set-off method when determining child support amounts
The Department of Justice Canada has initiated a survey to gather public input on potential changes to the Federal Child Support Guidelines, SOR/97-175. The survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, will be open until Sept. 25.
The federal justice department has invited Canadians to share their views, particularly on the areas of determining child support amounts in shared parenting time arrangements and ensuring compliance with income disclosure obligations, said a news release by the Law Society of British Columbia.
The current guidelines define shared parenting time as children spending at least 40 percent of the time with each parent in a year, with s. 9 outlining the way to determine child support in these situations.
Factors to consider, which offer leeway for discretion, include the child support amounts to be paid by each parent pursuant to the applicable tables, the increased costs of shared parenting time, and the conditions, means, needs, and other circumstances of both parents and children.
According to the survey, some stakeholders have suggested that the current guidelines could benefit from more structure and simplicity in determining child support amounts in shared parenting arrangements to promote agreement, to increase the use of family justice services, and to potentially reduce the need for court intervention.
A challenge with the current discretionary approach is that many families in shared parenting arrangements are ineligible for the use of administrative child support services to calculate or recalculate support amounts, the survey said. This often requires court involvement, which can strain the family justice system and create barriers to justice, the survey added.
Justice Canada is considering possible ways to increase access to justice and to divert appropriate matters from the courts, including by boosting the use of administrative child support calculation or recalculation services, the survey also said.
Another option being explored involves making the “set-off” method – which calculates each parent’s child support obligation and then offsets one against the other – the starting point for determining child support amounts, the survey noted.
The survey also listed allowing the addition of special or extraordinary expenses to the set-off amount and specifying exceptional situations where the court could either increase or decrease the set-off amount as possible changes.
The feedback collected in the survey will inform ongoing legal policy work aimed at making the family justice system more accessible, efficient, and responsive to the needs of families across the country.
