"Shared custody" is a term used in the Child Support Guidelines (both federal, meaning applying across Canada, and provincial, meaning applying in Ontario) which refers to a scenario in which a child or children live with both parents.
If the parents are not sharing the residential time on a 50/50 basis, for the scenario to be a true shared custody scenario, the child or children must reside with the parent, who has them for less of the time, for at least 40% of the overall time.
It is important to note that this term does not address the issue of decision-making. In other words, shared custody is not joint custody. Shared custody, ie: a description of a child's or children's residential arrangements, relates to the issue of child support. That is because the child support obligations of parents who are in a shared custody situation are unique and different from those of a parent, for example, whose child or children live primarily with the other parent (and to whom that parent has access, for example). Here, depending on the actual facts of a particular case, the classic "table" amount of child support may not be payable.
Calculating whether a parent actually has the children 40% of the time is not a simple exercise and a number of factors come into play. Courts have, on many occasions now, grappled with whether we count time spent at daycare, school or even sleeping, and to which parent we credit that time. A lawyer practicing in the area of family law will be able to tell you about court decisions which are relevant to your particular facts.
The Child Support Guidelines also do not provide us with a clean formula for the calculation of or for determining the amounts owing, if any, by one parent to the other. Here, too, the incomes of the parents come into play and so do the expenses incurred by each parent in their home in connection with the children.
For a specific reference to shared custody in the Federal Child Support Guidelines, please click here and look up section 9: Federal Child Support Guidelines
If the parents are not sharing the residential time on a 50/50 basis, for the scenario to be a true shared custody scenario, the child or children must reside with the parent, who has them for less of the time, for at least 40% of the overall time.
It is important to note that this term does not address the issue of decision-making. In other words, shared custody is not joint custody. Shared custody, ie: a description of a child's or children's residential arrangements, relates to the issue of child support. That is because the child support obligations of parents who are in a shared custody situation are unique and different from those of a parent, for example, whose child or children live primarily with the other parent (and to whom that parent has access, for example). Here, depending on the actual facts of a particular case, the classic "table" amount of child support may not be payable.
Calculating whether a parent actually has the children 40% of the time is not a simple exercise and a number of factors come into play. Courts have, on many occasions now, grappled with whether we count time spent at daycare, school or even sleeping, and to which parent we credit that time. A lawyer practicing in the area of family law will be able to tell you about court decisions which are relevant to your particular facts.
The Child Support Guidelines also do not provide us with a clean formula for the calculation of or for determining the amounts owing, if any, by one parent to the other. Here, too, the incomes of the parents come into play and so do the expenses incurred by each parent in their home in connection with the children.
For a specific reference to shared custody in the Federal Child Support Guidelines, please click here and look up section 9: Federal Child Support Guidelines
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