Case information

Family law – Support – Child support – Shared custody – Adult child – Parents disputing appropriate child support and retroactive child support for children of marriage – What are presumptions and factors to be considered in determination of child support under s. 3(2) of Federal Child Support Guidelines, SOR/97-175? – In light of Hryniak v. Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7, what is proportional approach to determinations of child support payable pursuant to s. 9 of Guidelines? – What are parameters of chamber judge’s right to make adverse inferences under s. 19(1)(f) of the Guidelines regarding payor’s income? – What factors should court consider in determining whether share sale is a non-recurring source of income under Guidelines?

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.

The father and mother were married in August, 1995 and separated in March, 2004. The father is the vice-president of a privately owned investment company. The mother became a lawyer after the parties separated. They have three children who are presently 25, 20 and 18 years of age. Their eldest child was adopted by the father and suffered permanent disabilities as a result of a childhood illness. Following the separation, the children resided primarily with the mother. The parties reached a settlement on their family-related issues in August 2005 and were divorced. After the mother completed her law degree in 2008, the father sought shared parenting of the two youngest children, which the mother opposed. In January 2009, the father unilaterally reduced his child support payments. A trial over the issues of parenting and child support commenced in September, 2009. The trial judge held that the children should remain in the primary care of the mother and fixed the amount of child support. After the eldest child turned eighteen in 2010, the father ceased paying child support for her. She lived with her mother until 2014. Whether or not she was entitled to child support between 2010 and 2014 was disputed. In April, 2012, the parties agreed to a shared custody arrangement for the two youngest children. Child support and related issues between the parties remained outstanding, however, and a special hearing before a chambers judge took place.