Support — child

How can I argue my case to get my former common-law partner to pay the amount of child support our children are entitled to? He left the relationship to "start over" and changed his job from full-time to part-time so he could go back to school to learn a new job and feel less stressed while studying.

The starting point in nearly all child support cases is the Federal Child Support Guidelines. The tables specify an amount according to the number of children and the gross annual income of the paying parent.

Even though your former spouse will argue that he should pay less as he's now earning less, the guidelines clearly state that a judge may "impute" income to a parent who's intentionally under-employed or unemployed. In other words, a judge can decide that a parent is earning a higher salary even though the parent has chosen not to do so, and the child support payable will be calculated accordingly.

A judge won't always impute income to an under-earning parent if there are reasonable circumstances where the parent may need to reduce employment, such as for genuine health or educational reasons. For more information about child support, see the fact sheet Child support, and the booklet Living Together or Living Apart: Common-Law Relationships, Marriage, Separation, and Divorce.

My former common-law partner pays child support for our daughter, who lives with me and stays with him every second weekend. Now he wants her to stay every weekend, but I don't agree with that. We both want what's best for our daughter, but just can't seem to agree on this, no matter how much we discuss it. What can we do?

It's always best if you and your former partner can resolve things, especially when it's related to your children, without going to court. Help is available for you and your former partner to make decisions based on your daughter's best interests.

You could take a free, three-hour Parenting After Separation course for parents who are dealing with child custody, guardianship, access, and support issues. You can also meet with family justice counsellors who are accredited mediators. One of the things they do is to help separated parents come to agreements on custody and other family law issues. These agreements are legally binding and can be filed with the courts.

You can also get help from a private mediator. See the Mediate BC website for a list of available mediators and other information about mediation and how it works.

If you and your former partner try these services and still can't reach an agreement about access to your daughter, your other option is to go to court.

For more information, see the fact sheet Access and the booklet Living Together or Living Apart: Common-Law Relationships, Marriage, Separation, and Divorce.

What financial help can I get to support my nephew who is living with me temporarily?

You may be able to take advantage of the Extended Family Program, which offers services and financial support to help relatives caring for children. You must meet certain eligibility criteria, and the amount of monthly benefit payments depends on the child's age. See the Ministry of Children and Family Development website for information about this program.

You may also be eligible for the Child Tax Benefit, BC Family Bonus, Universal Child Care Benefit, or the Child Disability Benefit, provided your household meets the eligibility criteria. Apply for these as soon as possible.

See the fact sheet Benefits for grandparents and other relatives raising children for links to application information about the benefits listed above and others.

What is court harassment?

Court-related abuse and harassment happens when one party in a family law action uses the legal system or repeated or ongoing legal actions to harass and abuse the other party. See our fact sheet What if your ex is harassing you through the courts? for a detailed description of this type of harassment. If you're financially eligible, you may qualify for legal representation (a lawyer paid by legal aid) because of these or similar instances of court-related harassment. For more information about legal representation, see the legal aid Serious family problems and How to apply for legal aid pages.

When can I stop paying child support? Is it when my child turns 19 or when she finishes college or university?

Parents who are separated or divorced must financially support their children, even, in some circumstances, after those children become adults (at 19). Children are entitled to be supported by their parents if they are under 19, or if they are 19 or over, but unable to support themselves because of illness, disability, or some other reason, such as going to school full-time. For more detailed information, see our fact sheet about when child support ends.

We've just separated, and we have two children, who live with my husband. How can I figure out how much child support I need to pay him?

Child support is based on the child support guidelines, a set of tables and clear rules that courts must use to set child support. For general information about child support and the child support guidelines, see our fact sheet Child support.

To find out the amount of child support you would be expected to pay under the guidelines, use the Child Support Online Lookup tool (effective after December 31, 2011) on the Department of Justice website. Enter your annual gross (before taxes) income, the number of children you have, and select which province or territory you live in, and then click "Lookup." The tool will calculate your monthly child support payment.

Do I have to put the father's name on my baby's birth certificate registration?

The birth certificate registration only contains information about the child's date and place of birth, and who his or her parents are. If you choose not to put the other parent's name on the birth certificate, that parent's rights and obligations towards the child don't change. The parent's obligation to pay child support for the child doesn't change, nor do his or her rights to custody, guardianship, and access.

However, if you're deciding whether to put the other parent on the birth certificate registration, it's important to get legal advice based on your circumstances and legal needs. See Who can help? for more information about how to find a lawyer.

See the BC Vital Statistics website for more information on filling out the registration form for a birth certificate.

What if we want to change a court order for custody or child support, but one of the parties no longer lives in British Columbia?

If you or the other parent doesn't live in BC, standard family law rules won't apply. If this is your situation, your case is more complicated, and you should see a lawyer to get some advice. See Who can help? for how to find a lawyer. See also the fact sheet about interjurisdictional issues on this website. Or see the booklet Living Together or Living Apart: Common-Law Relationships, Marriage, Separation, and Divorce.

What are costs?

I'm representing myself and I've found there are terms that I can't find a clear and concise definition of. For example, costs. This is a minefield for the lay person! What costs? The costs of appearing in court? The costs paid to the lawyer to date? If it's a total of all legal costs, then how is it broken down?

In the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal, costs refers to a court order that says that the losing party in a lawsuit must pay the legal expenses of the successful party. See our fact sheet about costs for more detailed information about how costs are calculated.

How do I serve Provincial or Supreme Court documents on my spouse if I don't know where he or she lives?

If you don't have an address for your separated spouse, you need to try and locate him or her. See the resources on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource (scroll down to Starting an Action and read the section called find my ex? ).

How do I serve Provincial or Supreme Court documents on my spouse if I can't find an address for him or her?

If you've tried our suggestions (above) for finding an address for your separated spouse but haven't succeeded, you could apply to the court for an Order for substituted service. See our self-help guide on how to arrange for alternative service. See also the resources on JP Boyd's BC Family Law Resource (scroll down to Starting an Action and read the section called substitutionally serve someone with legal documents? ) for some suggestions on how to proceed.

Can I serve Provincial Court documents on my separated spouse if he or she no longer lives in BC?

Generally, no. If your spouse no longer lives in BC, you'll have to apply in Supreme Court, not Provincial Court. This is because Provincial Court applications can't be validly served on a person outside BC. One exception to this rule is for applications to get or change an order for support. The Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act allows you to apply in Provincial Court if your spouse is outside of BC (or if the order you want to change was made in Provincial Court).

How do I serve Supreme Court documents on a spouse who lives outside BC or outside Canada?

Generally, you must serve documents on a spouse who lives outside BC the same way you would serve a spouse within BC. This is true whether your separated spouse lives in another Canadian province or territory, or in another country. See our self-help guide on how to serve Supreme Court documents outside BC (instructions for the person serving your documents available as a PDF in English; see the Quick links at the right-hand side of the screen).

You can ask a friend or family member who lives near your spouse to personally serve documents for you, or you can hire a professional process server to serve the documents on your spouse for you. Or, if your separated spouse lives in a country that has signed the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, you could choose to have the documents served on your separated spouse by following the procedures set out in that Convention.

If you want to hire a process server to serve the documents personally on your separated spouse, you can try to locate process serving companies where he or she lives using either the local yellow pages or the Internet. The fact that you've not seen your spouse in many years doesn't affect the requirements for serving documents.

How much time do I have to serve my Supreme Court documents after I file them with the court registry?

I originally served my wife with the Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) (or a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim under the old rules) nine months ago, but did not take the next step of having an Affidavit of Service completed and filed with the court registry. This was because serving my wife with the court documents led to new discussions about trying to save our marriage. We've since agreed to move ahead with the divorce, but now I no longer have three copies of the Notice of Family Claim (or Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim). Is the original service still valid, nine months later, or do I have to re-serve the documents? If I have to re-serve the documents, will the court registry give me copies of the documents I already filed, so that I can have them served on my wife? Or must I start from scratch, re-file everything, and pay the full amount again?

A Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) remains effective for 12 months. This means you can continue with your divorce application process because you had the Notice of Family Claim served within that 12-month period. You can apply to renew the Notice of Family Claim if it's not served on the other party within the 12-month period.

Your next step is to have the person who served the documents on your wife complete an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16). See our self-help guide on how to serve Supreme Court documents by personal service.

If the person who served the court documents on your wife is no longer available to swear an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16), you must have someone else re-serve the court documents on your wife. You can have the court documents re-served so long as this happens within 12 months of the date the Notice of Family Claim was filed with the court registry. The new server must then complete an Affidavit of Personal Service (Form F16). If you need additional copies of the documents that you filed with the court, contact the court registry.

If the Notice of Family Claim hasn't been served within 12 months of the date it was filed with the court registry, an applicant has two options. He or she can either:

• file a new Notice of Family Claim with the court registry (and pay another filing fee) or
• make a separate application to the Supreme Court to have the Notice of Family Claim renewed for another year, and then serve the renewed documents (this is a much cheaper option).

To get help, see the services listed in Who can help?

Where can I find a Supreme Court Notice of Intention to Proceed?

I intend to apply to the Supreme Court to change a final divorce order made more than three years ago. Do I need to serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed (Form F48) before serving a Notice of Application (Form F31)? I searched for this form, but I can't find it. Is there such a form or do I simply write a letter stating my notice of intention to proceed and serve it on the other party?

You don't need to serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed if you have a final order, even if a number of years have passed. You do have to have your Notice of Application (Form F31) served personally on the other party.

If a final order hasn't yet been made and you're proceeding more than one year after you first started, you must complete and serve a Notice of Intention to Proceed (Form F48) on the other party. This is a Supreme Court form that you can use. See our self-help guide called How to use a Supreme Court Notice of Intention to Proceed (Form F48) for links to a blank form, and information about when to use it, and how to fill it out and serve it on the other party.

I need to fill out a Form F30. Where can I find a blank version of this form?

Form F30 is also called an Affidavit. You can find it either on the Court Services Branch forms page or on our Court forms page, listed under Affidavit.

Do the new Supreme Court Family Rules apply to my case if any of my documents were filed before the new rules came into effect?

Yes. All cases started before the new rules took effect on July 1, 2010 are considered (or "deemed") to be family law cases under the new rules.

How do the changed rules affect my case if I filed it before July 2010?

First of all, from July 1 on, you must follow the court rules as set out in the new Supreme Court Family Rules.

Secondly, if you filed documents before July 1, 2010 that contained different names or terms they are considered (or deemed ) to be the new documents and the new terms apply to your case. For example, if you filed a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim before July 1, 2010, you're now considered to be the claimant instead of the plaintiff and the Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim are considered to be the Notice of Family Claim. If you filed an Appearance or an Appearance and Statement of Defence, you're now the respondent instead of the defendant and your documents will be referred to as a Response under the new rules.

See also our Old Rules/New Rules Chart showing the names of documents filed/terms used under the old rules and what they are called under the new rules.

Do I need to file other documents to replace the ones I filed before July 1, 2010?

In most cases, neither party will have to file new documents. However, if one party does want the other party to use the new form instead of the document they filed before July 1, 2010, they can serve a Demand (Form F99) on the other party, and the other party must file the new document within 21 days of being served with the Demand.

You can't make this demand if final orders have been made for all the claims in your case.

One situation where it might be helpful to ask the other party to file the new form is if the other party filed a Writ of Summons or a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim before July 1, 2010, but you've not yet filed an Appearance or Statement of Defence. The new Response (Form F4) asks you to respond to the facts and claims set out in the Notice of Family Claim and this form will be difficult to fill out if the other party hasn't filed a Notice of Family Claim.

I'm 6 months pregnant and the father, my common-law partner for the past two and a half years, just left me. Can I take him to court for child support before the baby is born?

He says he's not going to pay me any child support. I'm not working now and I need money.

You can't start a legal action for child support before your child is born. But you can prepare a BC Provincial or Supreme Court child support application (that is, write/type up the forms) and have them ready to file. (Ask a friend or family member to go to the courthouse and file them for you as soon as the baby is born.) To find links to the blank forms and find out how to prepare them, use our free online self-help guide How to get an initial (non-final) family order (if you can't agree with the other party).

Even though you can't apply for child support before the baby is born, you can apply for an order (in either BC Provincial or Supreme Court) for payment of "expenses arising from and incidental to" your prenatal and/or birth expenses according to section 93(5)(e) of the BC Family Relations Act, including loss of income related to the birth of the child.

I'm six months pregnant, but the father says it's not his baby and he won't pay child support until I can prove the child is his. Can I have a paternity test done before my baby is born?

Yes. There is a prenatal test available to help determine the paternity of your unborn child (approximate cost is about $1,000). For more information, see Non-Invasive DNA Paternity Testing in Canada and the USA on the Canadian Children's Rights Council website. Assuming the prenatal test confirms that he is the father, you can then apply for an order (in either BC Provincial or Supreme Court) for payment of your prenatal and birth expenses, according to section 93(5)(e) of the BC Family Relations Act, and then start a child support action once the child is born (see also our FAQ above about applying for child support before the baby is born).