Our Child support lawyers know that BC Special & Extraordinary Expenses are a form of child support.  Special & Extraordinary expenses occur in addition to the day-to-day expenses of your children including:

• tutoring,
• medical and dental expenses,
• post-secondary education such as tuition and books,
• out-of-school classes such as arts and sports,
• nanny and daycare expenses, etc.

Special & Extraordinary expenses are generally shared based on the proportionate incomes of the parents.

So if you earn $50,000 per year and your ex-spouse earns $50,000 you would each have to pay 50% of these expenses.

Other Ways to Agree on BC Special & Extraordinary Expenses

• First you can agree on what the actual expenses are. This is the best practice because often times parents disagree on what an extraordinary expense is. So one parent might think paying $500 per month for dance classes is reasonable. The other parent may beg to differ. So it’s better to discuss all expected special expenses in advance.  Extraordinary costs must be reasonable and within the ability of the parents to pay.
• Second, you can agree on proportionate shares. So regardless of your incomes, you can agree to share the expenses, let’s say, 50/50.

Unreasonable Special & Extraordinary Expenses

Sometimes extraordinary or s.7  expenses can be way too high specially if your child is going to University and having a hefty tuition to pay including books, etc. Here is when you can argue to pay a less proportion of the extraordinary expense by arguing that your child is an adult child and therefore must contribute to some of these expenses by working part time or taking out student loans.

Otherwise, you can apply to change or cancel your child support obligations.

Our BC child support lawyers know that child support can can be payable even if your children reach and pass the age of 19. As long as they remain ‘dependent’ on your support by the BC Family Law Act, then you are responsible for child support. To learn more, please call us at 604-974-9529 or get in touch.