On December 155, 2006, the Supreme Court of
Canada issued a ruling that divorced parents must disclose
increases in their income or face the possibility of
sizeable retroactive child-support orders. The Supreme Court
stopped short of ordering a duty to disclose salary
increases automatically, but the judges signaled that paying
parents should do so as a matter of course because children
of divorce have a right to a share of an income hike.
"Parents have an obligation to
support their children in a manner commensurate with their
income, and this obligation and the children's right to
support exists independently of any statute or court order,"
Mr. Justice Michel Bastarache wrote.
The current practice is for recipient
parents to go to court to seek increases in child support.
The new ruling sets out guidelines for judges on when
retroactive payments may be ordered, taking into account
such factors as the degree of hardship for the paying
parent, his or her "blameworthiness" in dodging increases in
child support over the years and whether the extra amount
would make much difference in the lives of the children.
The court said retroactive payments
can be back-dated to the time when a recipient parent first
notified the paying parent of the intention to seek an
increase, even informally.
The ruling also set three years as a
general rule for the amount of retroactive support payable.
Click here to read the entire decision
DivorceInCanada.ca
