Child Custody, Access and Support
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What is Child Custody and Access in Ontario
Each parent has an equal right and obligation to participate in the upbringing of their kid. In a two-parent, intact family, the decision-making is shared by the parents. When parents choose to divorce or separate, they must decide how to split or share their individual parental obligations and rights.
Custody, thus, is defined as a term used for the right to make decisions regarding the child. This individual would have the final say in regards to their religion, school, medical information and etc.
Upon separation or divorce, if one parent is awarded sole custody, the other parent usually gets the right of access, also known as visitation rights. Depending on what is in the child’s best interests, access visits can either be unsupervised or monitored. The access parent receives the kid at this location, and nobody else is required to be present during their time together. A common access schedule has the kid spending one or two evenings or nights each week, as well as alternating weekends, away from the parent who is responsible for their primary care and management.
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What is Sole custody?
Sole custody is when only one parent is awarded the decision making right for the child. They have the legal right and the responsibility to make decisions they think are best for the child. The child usually lives with said parent.
Sole custody is usually awarded to families that have a difficult or strained relationship with the other parent, such as violence, abuse, proven use of dangerous substance and or clearly established signs of poor judgement making.
Sole custody limits the child’s access to one of their parents, which is most of the time what is best for said child, taking into account safety concerns during the separation or divorce.
What is Joint Custody?
In Ontario, joint custody is when parents share the rights and responsibilities of custody, despite living apart. Joint custody gives both parents equal say over major decisions concerning their children. In order for joint custody to work efficiently, the parents must cooperate and maintain a harmonious relationship between them.
What is Shared Custody?
As opposed to other custodial arrangements, share custody refers to how much time is spent with each parent to determine each parent’s child support responsibility. Children must spend at least 40% of their time with each parent under the Child Support Guidelines. Parts of vacations, weekends, and overnights can count toward the 40% time.
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Courts have the power to change custody and access orders when a change in circumstances has led to a change in the schedule. In some cases, primary custody can be given up by consent, for example, if the custodial parent becomes ill, loses his/her job or the child is more likely to spend time with the non-custodial parent.
Amazing Question.
To calculate the amount of child support that should be paid, both the Divorce and the Family Law Act use O. Reg. Rule 391/97 set out in the provincial Child Support Guidelines, considering also the federal Child Support Guidelines in SOR 97-175.
For the amount of child support to be calculated, the paying parent’s total income will be considered, as well as the number of children. The recipient’s income will only be required in some situations, but that is not always the case.
If you need help in calculating child support, Sutton Law can help. We cover the Toronto and GTA area, as well as the Ottawa region.
Feel free to contact us at 647-492-4929 or book a free 30-minute consultation with our office to learn how we can help you with your matter.
If you, as the paying parent, lose your job, you will probably still receive Employment Insurance payment from the government. In Canada, if you lose your job, you will still be required to pay child support, although that amount would be lowered due to your lower income, in order to still be able to provide for your child(ren).
It is the parent’s responsibility to pay child support until the child turns 18 or becomes independent. If the child no longer relies on the parents, is not applying to school or university, or has moved out of the home and has a job to support himself or herself, then he or she is no longer a child of the marriage. In determining the amount of child support if the child is pursuing post-secondary education, the court will evaluate the earning potential of the paying parent and the child’s financial and emotional dependency.
Shared custody or shared parenting time refers to the parenting time the child spends with both parents during a given year. Under Section 9, the court determines how much support should be paid. For each spouse, the amounts are listed in the applicable tables. Parenting time or shared custody arrangements increase costs. Support is requested for each spouse’s child or children, taking into account their conditions, means, needs, and other circumstances. Both the income and the number of children of the paying parent will be taken into account by the court. They will then review the Tables in the Schedule. It is important to keep in mind that the guidelines are law, not just advisory, so they will always be considered. The courts will allow deviating from the table amounts if there is a good reason to do so.
The Family Responsibility Office, further referred to as FRO, was created under the Family Responsibility and Support Arrears Enforcement Act and is responsible for enforcing child support payments. This would be the office that will hold you accountable if you are late or won’t pay the agreed-upon child support amount.
Firstly, we’d like to make sure you understand that your child has a right to be supported by both of their parents, and it is your duty as a parent to provide the necessary funds for the child to be comfortable, and your duty as an ex-partner to help the other parent provide for the child you both created.
Now, *clears throat*…
Any support order made by an Ontario court as well as any support stipulation in a domestic contract that is submitted to the courts will be enforced by FRO. Once a support obligation has been established with FRO, that organization serves as a middleman for all payments. Support payors send support payments directly to FRO (often, FRO garnishes the payor’s salary), and FRO subsequently sends those funds to the receiving parent. Unless parties specifically and in writing agree to leave FRO, this is the situation.
If the payor spouse is not paying payments, the receiver spouse will not get child support. But the FRO has the power to demand payments if they are not being made.
To seek payment, FRO may take one or more of the following actions:
- Suspension of the payer’s license;
- Garnish a payor’s salary or any government monies received, such as old age security payments, employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan benefits, and refunds of income taxes;
- Take away from the payor’s bank accounts or half of a joint account that they own;
- Report the payer to a credit bureau (making it challenging to receive future loan approval);
- Suspend the passport of the payer;
- Any federal license, such as a pilot’s license, must be suspended;
- Put a personal property lien on the payor’s property, which later may cause authorizing seizure and sale of said property;
- The payor should be reported to any professional or vocational organizations to which they are a member;
- The failing payor may be hauled back before the court and found in contempt of the support order if the FRO is unable to compel payment via any of these methods. If found guilty of contempt, a fine or jail time may be imposed.
If the FRO is unable to compel payment in any of these ways, the defaulting payor may be brought back before the court and found in contempt of the support order. Contempt is punishable by a fine or jail term, depending on the circumstances.
When FRO is unable to find any income to garnish, one common enforcement strategy is to suspend the payor’s driver’s license. Due to such suspension, the payor may later encounter significant difficulties in obtaining a job and generating the necessary revenue to pay the support arrears. The FRO must provide the license holder with 30 days’ notice before suspending it.
Please get in touch with FRO if you are a support recipient and you haven’t received your payment by the due date. They can let you know if the money was indeed made but only arrived late or if the payor is behind on their payments. If the payor is behind on payments, you must fill out a Statement of Arrears, specify the amount outstanding, and send it to FRO. Any support that the payor owes you from a time before the support order was recorded with FRO can also be included in the Statement of Arrears.