Calgary Family Support Lawyers: How can I pay less spousal support?
Calgary Family Support Lawyers deal with issues of, entitlement, whether compensatory or needs based, quantum being the amount paid and duration meaning how long payments should last. Calgary Family Support Lawyers also deal with variation, suspension and termination of support based on a material change in circumstances of the spouse which can occur from job loss, health problems, retirement and remarriage. Our Calgary Family Support Lawyers know that Calgary family law clients have seen economic disruption in the oil patch and the Calgary economy.
MacLean Law has one of Western Canada’s most experienced and successful family law teams. Our Calgary Family Law office is located downtown in Bankers Hall. Our team of Calgary Family Support Lawyers is headed by Lorne MacLean, QC who has appeared on numerous leading family law cases in Appeal Courts and in the Supreme Court of Canada. Peter Graburn is the managing senior associate at our Calgary family law office.
How can I pay less spousal support? Hire Calgary Family Support Lawyers
In the recent Alberta Court of Appeal of Jessen the issues of job loss and whether it justified a suspension or a complete termination of spousal support was addressed.
In this case a husband successfully appealed a suspension of support order that had him paying Calgary spousal support for several months after his severance pay had run out.
How can I pay less spousal support? Calgary Family Support Lawyers Explain How To Win A Spousal Support Appeal
The husband appealed an order suspending the appellant’s spousal support payments to his former wife (respondent) because there had been a material change in his circumstances. At the age of 60, the appellant’s employment of 18 years with a major oil company was terminated during a downturn in the oil and gas industry. The appellant’s complaint is that the chambers judge should have terminated spousal support altogether, not merely suspended it. The appellant also appeals the amount of spousal support ordered to be paid prior to the suspension of Calgary spousal support.
He was unsuccessful in terminating support forever as it was possible he would become employed again at a lucrative salary. Here is what the Court of Appeal said about the test and why he was entitled to a suspension date of Calgary spousal support that coincided with the expiry of his severance pay:
[14] The standard of review in relation to whether spousal support should be terminated requires the application of a set of facts to legal tests and therefore is one of palpable and overriding error: McCulloch v McCulloch, 2011 ABCA 193 (CanLII) at para 17, 510 AR 271.
[15] Support awards should only be disturbed if there is an error in principle, a significant misapprehension of the evidence or the award is clearly wrong: Hickey v Hickey, 1999 CanLII 691 (SCC), [1999] 2 SCR 518 at para 11, 172 DLR (4th) 577. A chambers judge’s discretion regarding support awards is typically given considerable deference: Khurana v. Khurana, 2011 ABCA 261 (CanLII) at para 5, citing Hickey at para 11.
A chambers judge provides reasons for suspension vs termination of spousal support
Whether the spousal support order should have been terminated or suspended was specifically contemplated by the chambers judge. The chambers judge’s reasons reveal that she was alive to, and had considered, the distinction between a suspension and termination in support, and clearly she was exercising her discretion to implement the former. To support her decision, the chambers judge identified a possible future scenario in which the appellant might find high paying employment that could result in a significant disparity in income between the parties that might permit an application to vary. In light of her findings that the objectives of a spousal support order had not been fully met in this case, she was not inclined to terminate support altogether.
[23] The appellant argues that the chambers judge’s order resulted in an increase in the amount of spousal support from what would otherwise have been payable by the appellant. He argues that, notwithstanding his loss of employment and consequent application to vary spousal support, the order under appeal required him to pay spousal support for 39.5 months after he lost his employment (March 17, 2015 until June 30, 2018), and 15.5 months after the allocation of his 24-month period of termination pay (March 17, 2017 to June 30, 2018).
[27] The appellant’s employment was terminated effective March 17, 2015, at which time he received a termination payment roughly equal to two years of salary. The chambers judge reasonably concluded that this payment should be treated, for spousal support purposes, as if the appellant had continued to receive employment income for the next two years.
[30] Having regard to the finding that the objectives of spousal support in the Divorce Act had been substantially met, the length of time that spousal support had already been paid, the respondent’s achievement of a significant level of self-sufficiency, the chambers judge’s finding that the economic disadvantages arising from the marriage had largely been overcome, and the exact nature of the changed circumstances, the appropriate order was to suspend spousal support as of March 17, 2017, when the appellant’s notional income (i.e. – severance payout) ended.
Calgary Family Support Lawyers 403-444-5503
How can I pay less spousal support? Our crack team of Calgary Family Support Lawyers can help you navigate this tricky area and take prompt action to recalculate what the fair amount of Calgary family support should be. Procrastination nearly always leads to a less favourable result. Call us today at 403-444-5503 or fill out our consultation request form.
