Child Support Lawyers
Practice Areas
Edmonton Child
Support Lawyers
As lawyers who deal primarily in family law, we can provide our expertise as you navigate a child support application.
A child support lawyer can help you:
- Obtain child support
- Assist in imputing the other parent’s income
- Obtain special expenses for child support including daycare, healthcare, and extra-curriculars
Through our experiences outside and inside the Court, we can confidently guide you through the rules and regulations required to obtain child support and or respond accordingly to a child support application that has been served on you.
You might have a lot of questions regarding the court process and the terminology related to it. We’re here to help! We also specialize in child custody law.
- Beaumont
- Bon Accord
- Calmar
- Devon
- Edmonton
- Fort Saskatchewan
- Gibbons
- Lacombe
- Leduc
- Morinville
- Spruce Grove
- St. Albert
- Stony Plain
- Strathcona County
- Sturgeon County
- Thorsby
- Warburg
- Toefield
- Wetaskiwin
Don't see your location here? Call us at (780) 222-2386 or contact us to find out if we can service your area!
Child Support Lawyers FAQs
What if the other parent is not providing their financial information?
The parent seeking disclosure can request for income disclosure by filing and serving a “Notice to Disclose” in either the Court of Queen’s Bench or “Request for Financial Information” in provincial court.
If a parent does not provide the required disclosure, a Judge may impute an income to that parent. Imputing an income to the parent means that the Judge can on a temporary basis set or assign a reasonable income to the parent to calculate the appropriate child support amount until the parent provides their income information.
Remember, when an Order directs you to provide your income information by a specific day, you must do this. If you do not do this, the risk is that a Judge may impute your income higher than what it actually is.
The basic amount of child support in the Guideline tables is governed by the Federal Child Support Guidelines. The child support calculator can be found here:
The basic child support amount is calculated using the payor’s gross annual income, which can be found in Line 150 of the filed Income Benefit and Tax Return. The Federal Child Support Guidelines already take into account and cover the indirect and direct costs for the children such as housing and transportation.
How will the Court Calculate Guideline Income?
The starting point to determine guideline income for the purposes of child support will be using the sources of income that make up the parents total income on their most recently filed Income Tax Return.
In a typical situation, for an employment situation, the guideline income will be based on the line 150 of the Income Tax Return. A deduction of union or professional dues must be deducted from the line 150 for an accurate representation of a parents guideline income.
However, not every situation is the same. People change jobs, loose jobs or quit. The Court recognizes that a parents income may fluctuate throughout the year or years. In this case, using what a parent made in the previous year will not be an accurate method of determining what income to use to calculate child support. In such cases, a Court may require a parent to provide them with evidence of what they are currently earning based on letters of employment or their most recent pay stub.
The Court may also take an average of the parent’s income during the past three years.
When will the Court Impute Income?
A Judge may impute income to a parent for various reasons such as if the parent is unemployed or is underemployed.
Is there any other sources of money that a Court will include to impute income?
The Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) is not always included in guideline income. You will be required to include this amount in your income.
What If I'm Self-Employed?
When a parent is earning money from sources other than employment income, determining how much money is available for child support can be complicated. These scenarios can arise when a parent is self-employed, has a farming operation, or other corporate income situations.
When imputing income of a parent who is self-employed, the Court recognizes that they may not be drawing out their full earning potential for tax purposes.
If you are a parent who is self-employed or a seeking a child support order from a self-employed parent it is highly advised you seek legal help to guide you through the process.
Business deductions which are reasonable for the purposes of tax may not be reasonable for determining child support payments. In this situation, a Court may make it a necessary requirement to have an assessment/question each of the deductions. The judge will want to determine whether the expenses were necessary to earn business income. Some expense items that may be in question are often transportation and meal allowances, travel and other expenses not directly related to the operation of the business.
