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:
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!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteDoes a child have to make a reasonable effort in post secondary education in order to be eligible for child support? Is there a grade average that needs to be maintained or do they simply need to be enrolled full time and pass? OSAP has paid most of tuition expenses but I am being asked to pay for half of the remainder.
Please advise
Please note: this response does not constitute legal advice.
DeleteThe threshold is not very high and there is no grade average. Generally speaking, Courts find that kids have to apply themselves with reasonable diligence but many judges would find a pass to be perfectly acceptable. You should know that in many cases (depending on other circumstances) even part-time enrollment is enough.
If my son won't be living with his mom but is going to college and turning 18... Can my payments go directly to him?
ReplyDeletePLEASE NOTE: this response does not constitute legal advice.
DeleteYes, but let's make sure we understand "my payments" to mean the same thing. When a young person starts post-secondary school and no longer lives with the parent they lived with before, a different kind of child support is payable, not the "table" amount. So yes, you can pay your share of the tuition directly to the college, for example, but the question is "what else should you be paying, if anything". Please call the office next week and I will give you a brief free consult, if you are interested.
My 20 year old son lives with me, however didn't like me putting pressure on him to find a job so he went to his moms, now he says he is going to stay there and start college in September will I be responsible to pay support for him again?
ReplyDeletePLEASE NOTE that this response does not constitute legal advice.
DeleteThe technical answer to your questions is "yes" (and you need to further consider in what form that child support will be) but if I were you, I would wait until he actually goes to school - there is a lot of time before September and a lot of things can change - he may change his mind and so on. There are a number of factors to consider here: your income level, whether your son will work/has worked, what contribution he should make to his own education at this point and also, what mom's contribution will be. Please speak to a lawyer to clarify the application of the law to your fact scenario.
Our 19 yr old daughter, with a diagnosed learning disability, strived to successfully complete her 1st yr at college, but unfortunately failed 2 courses in the 2nd semester. She did this while holding down a part time job. She contributes to her education by paying for her books, parking,
Deletegas and insurance on her car. With a set plan, she was able to convince the college to let her take the 2 yr program over 3 yrs. She is currently taking 2 courses in the 3rd semester of her course while continuing to work part time. Her stress level is diminished, and she is actually enjoying school, rather than feeling overwhelmed. This January (4th semester) she will be taking the two failed courses from her 2nd semester as well as some 4th semester courses that she is permitted to take.
Unfortunately, her father, who has been making child support payments, has stopped payments as of Oct 1st. He is also demanding to be reimbursed child support payments from last May when she finished her 1st yr. or in lieu of this, stop spousal support payments for the next 9 mos. His reasoning, that she is not in school 'full time'. While married for 16 yrs, I worked part time in order to be there for our daughter before and after school. In order to avoid costly court proceedings, I settled for a much smaller spousal support than I should have, also over a shorter time. I continue to work, but am unable to do this on my own. Our daughter lives with me full time, unfortunately I cannot cover all her personal expenses, and she works to help with these.
Does her father have the right to stop child support because our daughter has set up an education plan that works for her. She is taking a program that will provide her with definite job prospects. As you can tell, I'm very proud of what are daughter has accomplished thus far.
PLEASE NOTE that this response does not constitute legal advice: We do not have enough facts to give you a definitive opinion (nor is a blog a place to do it) but you sound like you have a good case for child support continuing. If your daughter does have a learning disability, then expecting her to attend "full time" may not make sense. In any event, the Courts are becoming more and more flexible on this issue. You should definitely give us a call and we will discuss possible solutions with you further. Sounds to be like there may be an issue with spousal support as well.
DeleteThank you for your quick response. Yes, spousal support has been a contention from the beginning. I will add that our daughter's p t job is minimum wage position, and she is in no way dependant without my ex and my assistance. She cannot take her schooling full time now, regardless of her learning disability, as she must finish the 2 failed courses from her 1st yr, prior to taking a complete course load in her 2nd year. The college accepts her learning issues and is working with her towards successfully completing her program. Thank you again.
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