Court of Appeal Releases Decision on Child Support Liability of New Parent to First Family

The Court of Appeal has just released an interesting decision on a payor's application to suspend her child support obligation to her first family as a result of being on maternity leave for a new child in her second family. (As you might imagine, it is usually men who are the payors of child support and the situation before the court in McCaffrey v. Paleolog requires the happy coincidence of a mother paying child support while becoming pregnant in a new relationship.) The appeal in this case was complicated by legal issues concerning the history of the proceedings, but the reasons from the Court of Appeal are clear enough that we can focus on the law that will be of more general interest.

When a mother paying child support takes maternity leave as a result of a pregnancy in a new relationship, she will usually want relief from the child support obligation to her first family for at least the period she is in receipt of reduced income from maternity benefits. This raises three critical questions for the recipient.

• Is the pregnancy a "material change in circumstances" justifying the payor's application to vary her child support obligation?
  
• If child support will be reassessed, should income be imputed to the mother under s. 19(1)(a) of the Child Support Guidelines on the basis that she is underemployed while on her reduced income?
• To what extent should the first family suffer as a result of the payor's choices in a subsequent relationship?
  

Normally, the courts would leap to impute income to a payor who decided to take a year off work or voluntarily took a position with lower pay. In cases like this, however, there is arguably some necessity to the payor's choice, and the answer to these questions lies in the case law interpreting s. 19(1)(a) of the Guidelines.

This is what that subsection says (I've put the important part in italics):

19. (1) The court may impute such amount of income to a spouse as it considers appropriate in the circumstances, which circumstances include the following:

(a) the spouse is intentionally under-employed or unemployed, other than where the under-employment or unemployment is required by the needs of a child of the marriage or any child under the age of majority or by the reasonable educational or health needs of the spouse;

And this is what the Court of Appeal said (you should read the case yourself for the background to the court's analysis):

Imputing Income

Income may be imputed to a parent who is intentionally underemployed unless the parent establishes under s. 19(1)(a) of the Guidelines that the needs of the new child require her to remain at home.

Exception for Children Under the Age of Majority

Having a newborn child or a child of very young age will generally suffice to meet the Guidelines requirement, however "childbirth does not provide an automatic relief from a parent’s child support obligations," and the circumstances of the payor must be examined to determine eligibility in each case.

Guidelines for Imputing Income

The circumstances of the payor should be evaluated using the following factors, which the Court of Appeal, in a 2004 case called Watts v. Willie, borrowed from a 2000 case from the Manitoba Court of Appeal, Donovan v. Donovan:

"1. There is a duty to seek employment in a case where a parent is healthy and there is no reason why the parent cannot work. It is 'no answer for a person liable to support a child to say he is unemployed and does not intend to seek work or that his potential to earn income is an irrelevant factor' ...

"2. When imputing income on the basis of intentional under-employment, a court must consider what is reasonable under the circumstances. The age, education, experience, skills and health of the parent are factors to be considered in addition to such matters as availability of work, freedom to relocate and other obligations.

"3. A parent’s limited work experience and job skills do not justify a failure to pursue employment that does not require significant skills, or employment in which the necessary skills can be learned on the job. While this may mean that job availability will be at the lower end of the wage scale, courts have never sanctioned the refusal of a parent to take reasonable steps to support his or her children simply because the parent cannot obtain interesting or highly paid employment.

"4. Persistence in unremunerative employment may entitle the court to impute income.

"5. A parent cannot be excused from his or her child support obligations in furtherance of unrealistic or unproductive career aspirations.

"6. As a general rule, a parent cannot avoid child support obligations by a self-induced reduction of income."

Limit to Relief from Child Support

Where a payor is found to be entitled to the exception for a newborn or very young child, any suspension of her child support obligation must be only for a reasonable period of time, bearing in mind:

1. the financial situation of the payor's present family, since it is the needs of that child which support the s. 19(1)(a) exception, and
   
2. the financial situation of the first family, where the non-payment of support has a particularly harsh effect.

"The circumstances may compel an almost immediate return to work or may provide for full or part-time in-home assistance."

Summary

I can do no better than the court's own summary of its reasoning, found at paragraph 58 of the decision.

"In summary in a case like this:

"1. income may be imputed to a parent who is intentionally under-employed or unemployed unless the parent establishes under s. 19(1)(a) of the Federal Child Support Guidelines that the needs of a child require the parent to remain at home;

"2. it is recognized that generally a newborn child or a child of very young age is a child who needs care at home in the context of s. 19(1)(a), but

"3. childbirth does not provide an automatic relief from a parent’s child support obligations;

"4. the circumstances of each situation must be evaluated using all of the criteria articulated in Donovan v. Donovan ... ;

"5. any period of non-support must be reasonable in the circumstances."