Pssst… You Might Have to Pay BC Child Support Even if you are a Step Parent!

BC Child Support applies to all parents who reside all over British Columbia including Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam, Kelowna, Kamloops, etc. BC Child Support laws also apply to you if you are a parent who does not live in BC but your child primarily resides with your ex-spouse who does reside in BC.

There are three elements you should consider when it comes to child support:

1. Are you a Parent and if so do you have to pay Child Support?
2. What types of Child Support are there?
3. How much Child Support do you have to pay?

Who is a Parent for the Purposes of Child Support?

The BC Family Law Act states that a parent includes the natural parent of the child, the guardian(s) of the child and also the child’s step-parent. 

Therefore, if you were just a step-parent for a child and later separated from your spouse, under certain circumstances, you may be compelled to pay child support. What are these circumstances?

The Family Law Act says that the primary responsibility to pay child support is the responsibility of the natural parent regardless of whether his/her ex-spouse decides to remarry or have a common-law relationship with another individual. Therefore, your child support obligation does not terminate because your spouse begins a relationship with another person.

However, imagine this scenario:

You and your ex-spouse have a child together. Your income is $50,000 per year and your ex-spouse’s income is $50,000 per year. Since separation, your child primarily resides with your ex-spouse (more than 60% of the time). In this scenario, you can go here and calculate your responsibility to pay child support. You would have to pay $458 per month plus 50% of the child’s extraordinary expenses which are explained below.

However, imagine this scenario: your ex-spouse begins a relationship and later marries another person. That person becomes your child’s step-parent. That person earns approximately $100,000 per year. After a few years, your ex-spouse and this person separate. In this situation, your ex-spouse can apply for child support from you and also the step-parent. 

The BC Family Law Act states that the primary responsibility for child support lies with the natural parent so you will have to continue paying child support as long as the child primarily lives with your ex-spouse. If you are paying $458 per month, your ex-spouse may advance another claim again the step-parent to “top-up child support” because the step-parent makes more money than you. So your ex-spouse may ask the step-parent to pay an additional $400 because the child was used to a higher standard of living while the step-parent lived with your ex-spouse.

The BC Family Law Act says that the step-parent’s duty to pay child support is secondary to that of the child’s natural parents and guardians, and extends only as appropriate on consideration of 1) the standard of living experienced by the child during the relationship between the step-parent and his or her spouse, 2) the length of time during which the child lived with the step-parent.

Please also note the limitation of time under which a parent can advance a child support claim against a step-parent:

(4) A child’s step-parent does not have a duty to provide support for the child unless the stepparent contributed to the support of the child for at least one year, and

(b) a proceeding against the step-parent is started within one year after the date the stepparent last contributed to the support of the child.

2) What types of Child Support are there?

There are two types of child support:

1) The Monthly Child Support: this type of support is to cover the basic living expenses of your child including food, shelter and day-to-day expenses. You can determine the amount of monthly child support you or your ex-spouse would have to pay by clicking here.

2) The Special and Extraordinary Expenses of the Child: These are expenses that occur in addition to the day-to-day expenses of your child 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. These 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.

The Child Support Guidelines define extraordinary expenses as follows:

• child-care expenses that a parent with whom the child lives incurs as a result of the parent’s job, illness, disability or educational requirements for employment,
• the portion of a parent’s medical and dental insurance premiums that provides coverage for the child,
• the child’s health-care needs over and above that covered by insurance (for example, orthodontics, counselling, medication, eye care and other items) that exceed $100 per year,
• the child’s extraordinary expenses for extracurricular activities,
• the child’s extraordinary expenses for primary and secondary education or other educational programs, and,
• the child’s expenses for post-secondary education.

You and your spouse may agree to other extraordinary expenses relating to your child. However, all extraordinary costs must be reasonable and within the ability of you and your ex-spouse to pay.

3) How much Child Support do you have to pay?

As discussed above, you can click here to determine how much you would have to pay for child support if your child resides with the other parent more than 60% of the time.

However, if your child resides with you and your ex-spouse on a shared basis, meaning the child lives more than 40% of the time with each parent, then you and your spouse’s incomes will get set off against one another to determine child support. So if you earn $50,000 per year and your spouse earns the same, you would not have to pay child support to your ex-spouse if the child resides with you more than 40% of the time.

As discussed above, extraordinary expenses of the child are generally shared based on you and your ex-spouse’s proportionate incomes unless you and your spouse agree to a different ratio or a Court Order says you would have to pay more or less than your proportionate income.

Child Support can be a very complicated area of Family Law. You are urged to contact a lawyer or seek legal aid through the BC government to deal with disputes regarding child support. 

Call us at 604-974-9529 or email [email protected] for more information.