MacLean Family Law’s top rated, over the age of majority child support lawyers, regularly deal with cases involving child support for children over the age of 19 years where their separated parents cannot agree if support should be continued. We are BC’s largest family law firm and one of BC’s most highly rated family law firms and we are most recently named once again as Vancouver’s top family law firm’s by Top Choice Awards. You can call us toll free at 1-877-602-9900 to meet with us in Fort St John, Vancouver, Surrey and Kelowna BC.
It’s a tough Economy For Young Adults And Post Secondary Education Is The Norm Now
In today’s ultra competitive society getting a job, let alone succeeding in a career is not easy. Rising BC housing prices mean that a high school education may not properly equip a young adult to compete in today’s modern society nor enable them to properly raise a new family. As BC and Alberta mining, natural gas and oil markets weaken a whole new group of unemployed workers are returning to school. These young adults will often need to be work hard at school and they will often be unable to fully or even partially support themselves while getting the education they need. When these children are part of a separated family, conflict over who and how much support should be paid to these over the age of majority child support seeking children can arise that requires our top family lawyers to be involved to ensure a just result occurs.
Tough Over The Age Of Majority Child Support Issues
Common over the age of majority child support questions we get involved in are:
- Is the adult child to fully support themselves while in part or full time attendance at University, college or trade school the minute they turn 19? Is this a reasonable approach for the paying spouse to take in an over the age of majority child support dispute?
- Can a child move in and out of entitlement to child support during periods when they are working and not in school?
- Can a child take 1 or 2 courses per term or have failing grades and receive full age of majority child support?
- What about them taking a part time job, or student loans or grants and using RESP’s?
- What if a child chooses an out of province school that costs tens of thousands of dollars more than a local institution?
- How many years are they to be supported for and how many degrees are they entitled to obtain while receiving child support?
- Many parents who are asked to pay over the age of majority child support remember they paid their own way for their post secondary education and they wonder why is the world so crazy now?
- did the parents plan on supporting their children through post secondary education?
- what is the parent’s educational background?
- what if the child has no relationship with a parent they want child support from?
New Case Explains How Over The Age Of Majority Child Support Works
In Lamont v. Johnson, 2016 BCSC 366 Mr Justice Verhoeven denied child support to a child out of school for several years where there was a paucity of evidence on the issue of whether the child was entitled to over the age of majority child support and he neatly presented the law for lawyers and their clients:
[44] Under the DA, the court may make an order for child support for a “child of the marriage”, which is defined as follows:
- (1) …“child of the marriage” means a child of two spouses or former spouses who, at the material time,
(a) is under the age of majority and who has not withdrawn from their charge, or
(b) is the age of majority or over and under their charge but unable, by reason of illness, disability or other cause, to withdraw from their charge or to obtain the necessaries of life … .
[45] In British Columbia, the age of majority is nineteen.
[46] The term “necessaries of life” is not simply defining food, home, and clothing. It will vary with the specific applicant considering their reasonable expectations: Lougheed v. Lougheed, 2007 BCCA 396 at paras. 23 and 25.
[47] The pursuit of education necessary to equip a child with a career qualifies as “other cause” for continuing dependence of a child of or over the age of majority; in determining whether a child pursuing an education is unable to withdraw from her parents’ charge or obtain the necessaries of life a court must consider the surrounding circumstances; mere attendance at an educational institution is not sufficient; the determination is fact specific: W.P.M. v. B.J.M., 2005 BCCA 7 at paras. 18, 22. The court added:
30 The jurisprudence supports the view that there is a wide range of factors to be considered in the determination of whether a child is a “child of the marriage” and that individual factors will be of varying importance in different cases. All of the relevant factors must be considered. There is no arbitrary cut-off point based on the number of degrees or the eligibility of the student for financial assistance.
[48] In Sijercic v. Kazic, 2016 BCSC 186, Pearlman J. wrote:
[29] Whether a child over the age of majority remains a child of the marriage is not determined by simply asking whether the child can support herself while attending university. The court must determine whether the adult child should be entitled to continued support from her parents, taking into account her particular academic, financial and family circumstances: Beninger v. Beninger, 2010 BCSC 1509 at para. 15; Goundrey-Breskau at para. 24.
[49] In Lerner v Lerner, 2013 BCSC 239 at para. 32, Goepel J. summarized the applicable legal principles with respect to determining whether a person who is the age of majority or older is a child of the marriage:
[30] In Darlington v. Darlington (1997), 32 R.F.L. (4th) 406 at para. 14, 99 B.C.A.C. 134, the Court of Appeal adopted the factors set out in Farden v. Farden (1993), 48 R.F.L. (3d) 60 at 64-65 by Master Joyce (as he then was) for determining whether a person over the age of 18 is a “child of the marriage”. The Court of Appeal held that a parent seeking support for a child over the age of majority does not have to present evidence in regard to all of the factors mentioned in Farden, and further that in each case different factors may be given more or less weight depending on the circumstances.
[31] The factors described in Farden at p. 64-65 are as follows:
(1) whether the child is in fact enrolled in a course of studies on a full time or part time basis;
(2) whether the child has applied for, or is eligible for, student loans or other types of financial assistance;
(3) whether the child has a plan of pursuing educational goals that is related to a career or other reasonable objectives;
(4) whether the child can contribute to his own support through part time work;
(5) the age of the child;
(6) the child’s past and current success in the education program;
(7) the parents’ plans for the children’s education, particularly if the plans were made during the marriage; and
(8) whether the child has unilaterally terminated his or her relationship with the parent from whom support is sought.
[32] Once a child reaches the age of majority, the onus of proving that such a child remains a child of the marriage lies with the party so asserting: Classen v. Anima, 2011 BCSC 868.
[50] Similarly, in Neufeld v. Neufeld 2005 BCCA 7, Levine J.A. for the Court stated that the factors listed in Farden “are not a set of minimum criteria all of which must be satisfied.” They are factors to be considered, along with others (at para. 22).
The judge ultimately dismissed the mother’s claim saying:
[51] The mother has not satisfied the onus of proving that O. has returned to being a child of the marriage. In the circumstance of this case O.’s age is a relevant factor, combined with considerations relating to the fact that O. has not been a child of the marriage legally for well over four years. In such circumstances, I would expect reasonably thorough evidence establishing that the child has returned to the status of a child of the marriage. The evidence is lacking in several areas, where I would expect such evidence to be readily available.
Our over the age of majority lawyers have handled every type of fact pattern you can imagine. Meet with us before school starts to sort the dispute out. We will negotiate mediate or litigate the dispute. Click here to start finding a solution with our top family lawyers.
