Helpful & Informative Child Support Lawyer in Northwest Calgary

Often after a divorce or separation between parents, child custody will determine where a child lives and which parent has the right to determine your child’s upbringing. While child support is determined based on a number of factors, your child’s residence and child support often go hand-in-hand because the parent with whom your child lives usually receives financial support from the non-custodial parent. 

These payments are meant to help with the raising of your child. If you need the help of a child support lawyer in Northwest Calgary, contact Dukeshire Law Office. Our team will help you understand the different components of child support, your rights, and your obligations to child support.

What Is Basic Child Support?

According to Canadian Law, all children are entitled to receive financial support from their parents. In the case of a separation or divorce, there might be a parent who does not have primary custody. The Law mandates that the non-custodial parents must pay their share of financial support designated towards the childrens' upbringing - an amount known as child support.

The calculation of child support involves considering countless factors such as the income of both parents, extraordinary school expenses, the number of children, and more. All of these circumstances make child support structures unique to every case. However, what remains certain is that the children are entitled to receive child support, and a parent cannot contract out of the financial arrangement. 

What Factors Determine Child Support?

There are a multitude of factors that are involved in the calculation of child support payments. Some common influencing factors are:

• The residency arrangement of the children
• The amount of money each parent earns
• The number of children

Extraordinary expenses such as:

• Medical and dental insurance
• School costs
• Extracurricular expenditures

The vast number of factors involved in determining child support arrangements makes the process difficult to go through on your own. Our child support lawyers in Calgary will help you navigate the legalities.

How Is Child Support Calculated?

There are two child support guidelines in Alberta: the Federal Child Support Guidelines and the Alberta Child Support Guidelines. Our child support lawyer in Northwest Calgary will help you understand what you’re entitled to or responsible for based on these guidelines. The Law uses a simple table to calculate child support payments that involve calculations based on the following:

• A parent's gross income
• Cost of living
• Provincial income tax
• Average national amounts that families spend to care for children

In Alberta, basic child support is set out on a table that outlines what your payments are based on your income and number of children. Child custody affects payments, in that certain situations dictate different payment plans or amounts. For instance, if one parent has custody the majority of the time, support payments go to that parent. If you have any questions about how child support payment is calculated, please get in touch with us.

How Long Do Child Support Agreements Last?

There is no set standard for how long child support agreements last. In addition to that, they might change over time due to additional expenses, increased or decreased income, and other factors. Generally, child support arrangements end when the children reach the age of majority - 18 in the province of Alberta.

There might be particular circumstances that would require continued payment even after the child is 18.

Exceptions to Child Support

There are exceptions to the rules, which a child support lawyer in northwest Calgary can explain to you in-depth. Here are some basic ideas about the exceptions.

• Shared parenting: If your children divide their time so that the children reside with each parent for at least 40% of the time or more, each parent’s child support amount is calculated and then netted, with the difference going to the lower-income parent. The Court has the discretion with shared parenting to not allow the offset payment of child support in certain circumstances. 
• Self-employment or unusual income: It can be difficult to determine the proper amount of child support when a parent is self-employed or their income includes commissions or bonuses. Sometimes their business expenses are added back in to determine the amount. 
• Extracurricular and extraordinary expenses: Expenses for activities such as private school or special coaching may be included in child support. 
• High or low incomes: Sometimes a parent’s income falls outside of the normal limits for the Guidelines, which will affect how much you pay in child support.
• Adult children: In many cases, child support only applies to children under the age of 18; however, there are exceptions to this. Your child may require support past the age of 18 for medical reasons or for higher education.

Contact Dukeshire Law Office

It’s important that your rights as a parent are protected. A child support lawyer in Northwest Calgary can help you gain a full understanding of basic child support and child support exceptions so that you aren’t overpaying child support amounts or missing out on child support payments from a non-custodial parent.

Joy Dukeshire provides legal support for many family law matters for Dukeshire Law Office. If you’re going through a divorce, have concerns about your child’s well-being with another parent, or need help with child custody, contact Dukeshire Law Office for help and legal guidance.