Child Support
Understanding Ottawa, ON Child Support Guidelines
The Federal Child Support Guidelines are laws that guardians must follow for child support claims. The Federal Divorce Act and the Family Law Act govern all child support in Ontario, Canada. Claims for child support are usually made under the Federal Divorce Act as part of a divorce proceeding. If the parties were never married or separated instead of divorcing, claims are typically made under Ontario’s Family Law Act. Both of these acts can disregard the Child Support Guidelines only if special provisions have been made for the child, like a division of property for the child’s benefit, or both spouses have signed a domestic contract that specifies a different amount than the guidelines. AGB Lawyers provides guardians in Ottawa, ON child support services to ensure the child and parent have adequate monetary support.
Directing Child Support Payments
Children should be supported by each parent to the best of their ability. However, the parent with primary custody usually incurs most of the cost of raising the child, so they are the one that receives child support. Child support is determined by taking a percentage of the payor’s gross income, depending on the number of children. The guardian of a child can be anyone standing in place as the parent legally raising the children. Child support payments are made to the parent, not the child. The payor cannot decide how their payment is spent. The parent with primary custody determines how to use the payments with the child’s best interests in mind.
Importance of a Child Support Court Order
Many divorcing couples agree through mediation on child support payment. Others choose to obtain a court order. A court order is beneficial to the payor spouse because there is always the risk that the other spouse denies receiving the money. Obtaining a court order gives proof the payor is paying the correct amount through the Family Responsibility Office (FRO). The person receiving the support can enforce the support payments when they are registered with the FRO. Both parties have a record of payments and the amount each month. They are always welcome to amend the court order to change the payments at any time.