If you think child support doesn’t apply to stepchildren, think again

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Month-to-month little one help funds from one mother or father to the opposite are one of the crucial widespread outcomes of a separation. As time goes by, separated dad and mom typically re-partner, and step-parent relationships can develop into a part of the matrix of a blended household. However what occurs if the dad and mom within the blended household separate? Is a step-parent required to pay little one help for a stepchild? In some circumstances, the reply is sure.

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That was the end result of a current twelve-day trial earlier than Justice Dale Fitzpatrick of the Ontario Superior Courtroom of Justice who was requested to determine if a stepfather had an obligation to help two stepchildren.  The trial targeted virtually solely on the binary concern of whether or not the stepfather ought to pay little one help. The size of the trial made it very clear: figuring out a step-parent’s, or subsequent mother or father’s, little one help obligation is much extra complicated than figuring out a primary mother or father’s obligation.

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Within the case earlier than Justice Fitzpatrick, the events lived collectively for under 22 months, of which they had been married for 17 months. The husband didn’t have any kids from a previous relationship. The spouse had two kids, aged 9 and 11 years on the time of separation. The youngsters’s organic father had a fractured relationship with the youngsters and, when the events started residing collectively, the youngsters weren’t seeing their organic father in any respect. The organic father was in receipt of social help and was paying little one help of $94 per thirty days.

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Following the separation, the spouse sought little one help from the husband. The husband disagreed. A tough-fought trial ensued. To find out if the husband owed little one help, Justice Fitzpatrick needed to rigorously analyze the connection between the husband and the 2 kids. The choose needed to determine if the husband had stood within the place of a mother or father since, beneath the Federal Little one Assist Tips, which apply throughout Canada to divorcing spouses, little one help could also be payable by a partner who takes on the function of a mother or father.

The choose was guided by variety of court docket choices which discover their roots in Chartier v. Chartier, a 1999 choice of the Supreme Courtroom of Canada. In that case, Justice Michel Bastarache famous that spouses “are entitled to divorce one another, however not the youngsters who had been a part of the wedding” and that when a partner stands within the place of a mother or father, kids ought to have the ability to “depend on that relationship persevering with.”

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To find out if a partner has stood within the place of a mother or father, a choose will take into account numerous components. In accordance with Justice Fitzpatrick, these components embody, however are usually not restricted to: a) participation in household occasions, b) the step-parent’s monetary contribution towards the youngsters, c) the step-parent’s participation in duties associated to the youngsters, d) duty for disciplining the youngsters, e) kids’s use of the step-parent’s surname, f) reference to the step-parent as “dad”, g) size of the step-parent’s relationship with the youngsters and h) the character of the youngsters’s relationship with the organic father.

Over the course of the 12-day trial, the proof given by each events was remarkably comparable on many of those components. In accordance with Justice Fitzpartrick, the husband testified that “the youngsters had been calling him dad commencing with the primary three months” of his relationship with the spouse and that “he paid for the entire family bills with out contribution from the (spouse) who didn’t work exterior the house throughout the relationship.”  The proof additionally confirmed that the husband participated within the kids’s extra-curricular actions comparable to swimming, hockey and skating. There was proof of household holidays collectively to Mexico, Florida and Muskoka.

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Regardless of the depth and breadth of the proof, the husband denied that he had any closeness or relationship with the youngsters. The husband’s place was grounded in his perception that he was “dominated by the (spouse) and in some way coerced to behave like a mother or father towards his will.”  Justice Fitzpatrick dismissed the husband’s claims on the premise there “was no significant proof introduced throughout the trial to help his declare that the (spouse) compelled this relationship on the (husband) or on the youngsters.”

Notably, following separation, the husband didn’t have any contact with the youngsters. In accordance with the spouse, the husband selected to discontinue any contact. Not having contact after separation doesn’t have any bearing on whether or not a toddler help obligation exists.

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Within the outcome, Justice Fitzpatrick had “no problem” discovering the husband stood within the place of a mother or father and is required to pay little one help to the spouse for the help of the 2 kids.  Recognizing the quick size of the connection, Justice Fitzpatrick ordered the husband to pay little one help for a interval of three years.

In figuring out the quantity of the husband’s month-to-month little one help obligation, Justice Fitzpatrick deducted the $94 per thirty days paid by the organic father.

Given the nominal quantity of kid help being paid by the organic father, it’s value noting {that a} stepparent could also be required to pay the total month-to-month quantity of kid help in sure circumstances. That concern was mentioned by Justice Erika Chozik in one other current case within the Ontario Superior Courtroom of Justice.  In accordance with Justice Chozik: “When the organic mother or father shouldn’t be current, and his help obligation can’t be quantified or enforced, there could also be circumstances the place the step-parent must meet the first obligation of kid help to ensure that the kid to proceed to take pleasure in the usual of residing she or he loved whereas residing with the step mother or father.”

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Along with his obligation to pay time-limited little one help, the husband was ordered to pay prices of $135,000 to the spouse on account of the trial. In accordance with Justice Fitzpatrick, the trial “was a winner-take-all 12-day trial made longer by the (husband’s) unbelievable denials of any emotional relationship with the youngsters.”

Given the size and prices of a trial to find out if a mother or father has stood within the place of a mother or father, separating spouses can be clever to think about settlement choices early on in such a dispute.

Adam N. Black is a companion within the household regulation group at Torkin Manes LLP in Toronto.
ablack@torkinmanes.com