I'm in Saskatchewan and I want child support - do I need a lawyer?

If your case is more complicated, though, you may need to go through a legal process, such as creating a child support agreement or going to court. In this case, a family lawyer can help you with getting child support.

When the Child Support Service can help, it is a good option

If it is available in your situation, a good first option is to try to get support through the Child Support Service. The Child Support Service is a government program that will calculate enforceable child support calculations in relatively simple cases.

The service is free to apply for, and they have a number of tools they can use to get the financial information required to calculate child support.

The Child Support Service cannot help, however, in cases where the person paying child support is self employed, has farming income, or has rental income. It also is not able to assist if a parent lives outside of Saskatchewan, unless they agree to use the service.

The Child Support Service cannot impute income when the income of the person paying is not known. It also cannot get 'special expenses' for things like extracurricular activities or health expenses for children. It will not calculate support if there is already a court date for a child support hearing.

The Child Support Service can also recalculate child support orders, agreements, or calculation decisions. However, if the original child support amount was based on imputed income, business income, or included special expenses, the Child Support Service will probably not be able to do a recalculation.

Examples of complex cases where a lawyer can assist in calculating support

Some situations require more complex calculations to figure out what the income of a paying parent is. For example, if the paying parent owns a diamond drill, has a yard full of operational heavy machinery, and has three numbered companies, we can speculate that they have a reasonably high income or potential to make income. However, they also probably don't have a simple hourly wage. Money might be moving between the numbered companies in a way that makes it hard to determine what is income. In these cases, a lawyer can help you figure out how to get child support.

Another example of a more complex case would be for an autistic child who is in a number of expensive therapies, currently paid for by the parent who is caring for the child. To ensure that both parents are helping get the child the care that they need, the other parent should be paying for a portion of these medical expenses. The whole burden should not fall on the parent who has the child in their care. The portion each parent pays is part of the child support calculation, and is based on the relative incomes of the parties. A lawyer can help you determine these proportions, and negotiate for these in an agreement.

Summary

In short, the Child Support Service can be a great option when a paying parent has a straightforward job that they get a T4 for, and the children do not have any special expenses. If the paying parent runs a business, or has difficult income to trace, or the children have extracurricular or medical expenses, a family lawyer can assist you with getting the financials of the paying parent and making an agreement or going to court to get a child support order.

Links

To access the Saskatchewan Child Support Service, click here.

If you want to discuss getting child support with the help of Wildflower Law, click here.