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Twix's picture

I'll start out by saying DH is seeing a lawyer soon but we are still kinda stressed so I thought I'd put the question here.
BM is claiming that DH needs to file his T4 income with the courts yearly. She's saying this will change the amount of child support owed and that he will have to back pay.
He currently pays the amount stated in the CO monthly through fro.

I have not heard of this, it doesn't say anything about this in the CO. I also can't find anything about it on the government website. The only thing I see on the government website is that he is supposed to give her a copy of his tax return, however, his CO states they are both supposed to do this.

We are in Canada so I'm hoping someone might have a little insight for us. Thanks!

Teas83's picture

It might depend on which province you live in.

I’m in Alberta. My husband had a CO drawn up over 5 years ago that stated how much his CS was. Then BM signed him up with Maintenance Enforcement so that his CS is automatically withdrawn from his bank account. She also sent in a request with ME to have CS recalculated every year because she knows my husband’s income usually goes up every year. Every February, my husband gets a letter from ME saying he needs to send in his T1 from the year before (so he just got a letter saying he needs to submit his 2016 T1 because it’s always a year behind. His CS will go up in April).

So yes, in Alberta this can happen. It’s not quite how you described it though - he doesn’t send his T4 to the courts, but he sends his entire T1 to Maintenance Enforcement. And my husband’s situation doesn’t involve anything retroactive, it just changes CS going forward. Your BM might have some details mixed up but it doesn’t sound like she’s totally out to lunch, unfortunately.

Edit to add: my husband’s CO also says that they are supposed to give each other their T1s each year, but they never do. BM once emailed him and said “you failed to send me your T1 blah blah blah” and then proceeded to blame him for something even though she didn’t send hers to him either (it would be embarrassing for her). But I don’t see the point in them needing to do that since CS is handled through ME anyway. BM is actually supposed to send ME her T1 as well but she never does so they impute her income as full time minimum wage, which ends up being higher than her actual income.

Twix's picture

Yeah, DH nor BM have ever sent each other their returns so I'm hoping that fact is a wash.

We are in Ontario. Once the CO was drawn up DH had to automatically set up an account with fro (family responsibility office). So every month he pays them then they pay BM.

He was late one month and they were all over it. BM also once tried to claim he hadn't paid for like 6 months so they contacted him then as well (resolved easily since they had all the records). So I would think they would have sent a letter or call if he was three years behind. I would hope anyway.

Does ME take BMs income into account every year when they recalculate? That's seriously crappy that it is recalculated that often.

When DHs order was first drawn up both incomes were used to determine support. So the way we see it is if she wants more CS her income needs to be considered as well. She also breeds little dogs in her house and sells them cash so DH is planning on bringing that up if and when she filed for more CS.

Teas83's picture

In my husband’s case, BM’s income is not taken into account because it’s so low compared to my his, plus SD9 only comes every other weekend.

Your husband should definitely mention the cash income BM has. And if he’s not behind on CS, that’s very easy to prove.

notsobad's picture

CS is based on income, that includes bonuses and overtime. It’s a chart that each province has.
Most COs have a provision to adjust and correct CS in the case of a change in income. So exchanging tax information is important. You can check with the charts whether it will change CS or not. If he owes more he will probably have to back pay the difference.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fl-df/child-enfant/2017/look-rech.asp

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/fl-lf/child-enfant/guide/index.html

Twix's picture

The CS was originally calculated from both DHs and BMs income using the charts. They calculated how much DH would pay BM if she had the kids full time and vice versa. BMs amount was subtracted from DHs and this is what he pays. This was done with lawyers.
So that's the tricky part, we can't just look up the new amount based off DHs income without knowing BMs.

Also there is nothing in his CO about adjusting CS as income changes and I don't see anything on the government websites outlining this.

Twix's picture

You know what, everything I'm reading is saying BM would need to file a motion to change. So pretty sure she's just blowing hot air, we will see if the lawyers confirms this soon.

notsobad's picture

That will be the only way to know for sure.

My CS was only based on exH income. Both mine and his was used only for section 7 expenses.
He got a raise midyear and a Christmas bonus one year. He was reluctant to give me his T4s and tried to withhold them, he demanded I give him mine. I did and still nothing from him.
I didn’t have a lawyer but ended up calling his lawyer and telling her he wasn’t giving me his T4. She gave me the “I can’t talk for him and I’m not your lawyer, blah, blah, blah.” speech.
Within the month my CS went up and I had copies of his T4.