Calgary Child Support Lawyer
If you have a child support or other family law issue, a Calgary child support lawyer at Merchant Law Group LLP can help you deal with it. Contact us today at 403-225-7777 to speak to a lawyer now.
A child is automatically entitled to child support. It does not matter whether the child’s parents were ever married. The aim of the child support laws is to figure out the fair amount that each parent of the children must pay.
The amount of child support payable is arrived at by looking at the respective incomes of both parents and the current parenting arrangements. I.e. The time spent with the child by each parent respectively.
Child support arrangements can be agreed between the parties but still need to be approved by the Court in order to be considered valid.
How Much Child Support Should I Be Paying or Receiving?
The amount of child support to be paid in Alberta is determined by Federal Child Support Guidelines. It does vary a little from province to province depending upon where the parents reside, the income of each parent, and the number of children requiring support.
In addition to the Guidelines tables amount, the parent paying child support will also be required to pay their fair share of any other child related expenses, such as childcare, medical, health, and education expenses.
At the commencement, both spouses can be legally required to state all relevant financial information, earnings, salaries, and income from all sources. A Calgary child support lawyer retained can compel this information. This is then used to calculate the amount of child support that would be payable according to the Guidelines.
Should be simple but can become more complicated where the payor can hide his real earnings. Here’s where your Calgary child support lawyer earns his stripes. Competent Calgary child support lawyers may be retained to ensure that all earnings are being disclosed and that the courts see the full picture.
For example, a self-employed business man may run his affairs through a limited company and thereby use many tricks to pay his or her expenses in such a way that makes his or her income on paper or the income tax returns appear to be a lot less than it actually is. The courts can be asked to impute income based on the payors actual spending and lifestyle.
In other cases where the payor is not thought to be hiding anything, like where he or she works as an employee, it will be much more straight forward. Pay stubs may suffice.
Making it more complex how much time you spend with the children and the expenses you bear during such visitations or excursions are relevant to the calculations. Another issue will be if the payor has other biological children.
You can be ordered to pay more than you think just looking at the Child Support Guidelines in cases where the courts impute extra income. So you’ll need a good lawyer to look out for your best interests.
Whether you are the one to be paying or receiving support you ought to strongly consider availing yourself of the professional services of a good Calgary child support lawyer as, once a judge makes an order, it can be very difficult and expensive in legal costs to attempt to get it changed down the road.
How long does child support last?
Your responsibility to pay child support can extend past the age of majority, and you can be required to contribute right up until children finish university.
Even if your child is over the age of 18, child support can be ordered to continue until that child reaches 22 years of age, if the child is in full time attendance at a post-secondary educational institution like a college or university.
Children with special needs will affect the outcome as to the amount of child support payable. The court may demand higher child support than what would have otherwise been payable to help pay for the increased medical costs and other special needs of your child.
CALGARY CHILD SUPPORT LAWYERS FOR MEN
Whether you are a man or a woman the same child support Guidelines apply to you and the same considerations:
- The parent’s respective incomes for the guidelines amount payable;
- Custody arrangements;
- Child care costs; and
- The child’s specific needs, if any.
If you are a man in a child support case, you ought to retain a Calgary child support lawyer who is going to look out for your best interests, as well as your child’s.
Everybody deserves to be treated fairly by the law. Our duty to our client is our paramount concern. Don’t pay more than you are required to pay by going to court unrepresented.
Nowadays our Alberta courts recognize that giving mothers custody is not necessarily in a child’s best interest. It must be proven.
Women in the workforce may be working long hours. A father who is available to care for his children could well provide the better circumstance for the child’s wellbeing.
Men can receive full custody of children or be involved in a “shared parenting” relationship. If the mother makes more money than the father, the payment of child support must flow in the other direction from the mother to the father in such cases.
For instance, in joint custody, shared parenting, or other alike situations, it can often be the case that neither parent is ordered to pay child support.
However, in a situation where one parent’s income is significantly higher than that of the other’s, that parent could be required to pay child support payments to ensure the child’s expenses and best interests are covered while with either or both parents.
Maintenance Enforcement
If you need help getting an existing order for child support enforced, feel free to call one of our Calgary child support lawyers to help you. It may be as simple as referring it to the Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Programme.
Get the help you need now!
Our Calgary child support lawyers place a very high priority on educating our clients as to their rights and responsibilities surrounding child support.
As stated this is an inalienable right of children under the law as interpreted by our courts and is not a right of one or other of the parents at all. Our Calgary child support lawyers like to spend the time to educate our clients about what the likely outcomes in court will be.
We know very well that this can be emotionally draining for you while you are simultaneously coping with all the other issues such as loneliness, new living arrangements, child custody and parenting time, spousal support, division of property, and the overall upset of your children who are now seeing less of their parents.
Misunderstandings as to the law can only make matters worse. Our Calgary child support lawyers think it is therefore very important that you understand exactly where you stand legally speaking.
We specialize in going to court. Although we will always help to explore other avenues for negotiation, mediation and collaborative law. The child support lawyers in our Calgary office provide legal representation in Calgary and the surrounding areas, including Airdrie, Okotoks, Chestermere, Strathmore, High River.
Get In Touch
Call us today at 403-225-7777 to speak to one of our Calgary child support lawyers now for a case assessment to better understand where you stand.
Email us using the adjacent form on this webpage.
Or visit us in person at the Merchant Law Building. We are on the Fourth Floor. There is wheelchair access and an elevator. The address is 2710 17th Avenue SE.
We also have offices in Airdrie, Red Deer, and Edmonton.
We look forward to serving you.