The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently released a judgment on the issue of retroactive child support. In this case, the SCC changed the previous law that a parent could not seek a retroactive child support variation once the child was no longer a “child of the marriage”, i.e., the child was 19 years of age or graduated from university.
The SCC determined that the law disproportionately affected women who are often the primary caregivers following the breakdown of a relationship. Although, of course, this applies equally to fathers who take on the primary caregiver role post separation.
Forcing the primary caregiver to commence and fund a court application for child support before the child is an adult is an undue burden on that parent as they are typically at an economic disadvantage. The primary caregiver, has to bear the majority of expenses to feed, house, and care for the child(ren). This can be magnified when the payor parent is shirking or under paying their child support obligations to the primary caregiver.
For this reason, and others, the SCC determined that under BC’s Family Law Act, a parent can now seek retroactive child support variations even after the child is an adult when that parent is likely in a stronger financial position. Even with this new law in place, it is still not advisable to delay seeking child support if it can be avoided.
If you are faced with challenges in child support payments, contact a lawyer in the Lindsay Kenney Family Law Group.