Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Family law - Support - Arrears - Cancellation - Imputation of income - Arrears of child and spousal support accumulating while payor unemployed - Whether the lower courts applied reasonable principles for determining whether spousal or child support will be retroactively varied or for when arrears will be reduced or cancelled -Whether the imputation of income to a payor is inequitable on the ground that it holds a payor to the standard of a guarantor of income - Whether support payors must do any work in order to earn income even when mentally or physically impaired.

The Applicant applied for a cancellation or reduction of arrears of child and spousal support and for a cancellation or reduction of ongoing child support. The parties were married in 1975 and separated in 1990. There are three children of the marriage, presently aged 26, 24 and 22, all of whom resided with the Respondent following the separation. The Respondent wife obtained an order dated November 1, 1991 requiring the Applicant to pay interim maintenance of $2,800 per month, comprised of $1,000 per month in spousal support and $600 per month for each of the children. At the time the parties married, the Applicant was attending university and working part time. The Respondent worked full-time until 1984, when their first child was born. In 1982, the Applicant graduated from law school and in 1987, he became a partner in a law firm. He earned $210,500 in his best year, but due to back problems, he began to be chronically absent from work, causing his income to drop to $70,000 in 2000 and then to $46,000 in 2002. Finally, he was removed from the partnership and left the firm. From June of 2003, he has been living on social assistance of $500 per month and has not paid any support since November of 2002. He had back surgery in 2005. The Respondent also had severe back problems that required two surgeries. She has worked at two part-time jobs to support herself and the children. With respect to ongoing support, she asked that the court impute a salary of $70,000 per annum to the Applicant.