Our BC Child support lawyers are often asked about: How To Win BC Child Support
Our top rated Vancouver child support and BC child support lawyers help our clients obtain the highest fair amount of child support possible. Sadly, too many spouses plug incorrect income information into free child support calculators leaving children shortchanged. Our BC child support lawyers help set fair BC child support so parents can properly and fairly support their children at the lifestyle they enjoyed before separation.
In today’s blog we will help you understand the answer to the question: How do I get BC Child support?
- How To Win BC Child Support?
- Common BC Child Support Errors To Avoid
- Calculations Are Only As Good As the Accuracy Of The Income You Input
- Shared Custody Isn’t Just Set Off
BC child support is based upon a set of BC Child Support Guidelines put in place over 20 years ago. These guidelines were based on an average cost for what it costs to raise a child properly depending on the incomes of one or both parents. When our top-rated BC child support lawyers are asked: How Do I Get The Most BC Child Support? We analyze what each spouse earns or can earn before we give them correct answer. Failure to do so leads to errors in child support calculations. You can try our free Vancouver BC support calculator here after you are aware of the errors to avoid.
Common BC Child Support Errors To Avoid
- Not looking at what a self-employed spouse or professional really earns which is often far more than their tax return;
- Not grossing up tax free income and capital gains;
- Not using the true income an underemployed person can really earn;
- Not grossing up tax free income such as tips, under the table money; overseas income taxed at lower rates etc.
- Not looking at high capital assets to see what they could earn if invested appropriately;
- Allowing business deductions for hidden personal benefits like cell phones, home office, car, travel, legal fees, wages to related parties, amortization etc, income splitting, deferred profits.
- not analyzing section 7 special and extraordinary expenses and the tax benefits and subsidies related to them
- not analyzing whether someone really has shared parenting over 40 % of the time
When parents live together each parent makes sacrifices and works extremely hard to ensure their children get the best financial upbringing possible. On separation the cost of raising children and living in 2 homes goes up and friction over what the right amount of child support is can occur. Separated parents each have a duty to raise and financially support their children to the best of their ability.
BC Child support law enforces the concept that a child doesn’t lose the benefit and support from both parents’ ability to support them in the same way they would if the parents lived together. Child support, although not paid directly to the child, is the legal right of the child and cannot be bargained away by their parents.
How To Win BC Child Support
Calculations Are Only As Good As the Accuracy Of The Income You Input
The calculation of Child support varies based on what the regime of child parenting time is:
- Sole custody or primary parenting time – apply section 3 of the Child Support Guidelines’. For a step by step guide click here,
- Split custody where each parent has primary care of 1 or more children – apply section 8 which say: where each spouse has custody of one or more children, the amount of a child support order is the difference between the amount that each spouse would otherwise pay if a child support order were sought against each of the spouses.
- In A BC shared custody arrangement, each parent has care roughly equally of one or more children.
9 Where a spouse exercises a right of access to, or has physical custody of, a child for not less than 40 percent of the time over the course of a year, the amount of the child support order must be determined by taking into account:
(a)the amounts set out in the applicable tables for each of the spouses;
(b)the increased costs of shared custody arrangements; and
(c)the conditions, means, needs and other circumstances of each spouse and of any child for whom support is sought.
Parents in shared custody case often incorrectly think they just set off what each owes the other like a split custody situation but this is a mistake and the results can be catastrophic to your children. The simple set-off of the parties’ respective Table amounts is ONLY a starting point that must then be followed by an examination of the continuing ability of the recipient parent to meet the needs of the child, given that many costs are fixed. Courts must be especially careful in variation applications where a rigid application of a set-off would result in a drastic change in support. Often a multiplier is applied by the courts that can be 50% more than a simple set off.
If You Want To Know: How To Win BC Child Support? Call MacLean Family Law Immediately to meet with us in Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Kelowna and Fort St John.
