Toronto Child Support Enforcement Lawyer

When you go through a divorce and share children with your former spouse, ensuring that their daily and ongoing emotional, personal, and financial needs are met will be a critical matter that must be dealt with among a range of other accompanying legal concerns. Therefore, when you are in a scenario where your former partner has stopped paying the child support they owe, you should not hesitate to take swift and forceful legal action.

Our Toronto child support enforcement lawyers could assist you in doing just that. A seasoned child support lawyer with a broad background in and knowledge of the laws and legal processes involved, such as Paul Riley, could help you exert your rights and aggressively pursue any support you are owed.

How Child Support is Assessed in Toronto

Child support is calculated based on several critical components in Toronto, including the incomes of both parents, any specific needs of the child or children, and how parenting time is shared between the two parties. Provincial child support laws that inform how this financial support is added up also play a key role.

Both parents must ensure their child’s ongoing financial needs are covered. Child support can be used to pay for everything from daily basics and medical care to school and additional expenses associated with activities such as after-school clubs or performing arts. When one party retains primary parenting time, the other party will likely be required to pay support. However, some factors could lead to a divergence from the standard child support guidelines, such as:

  • In the cases of substantial net worth
  • When the net worth of the presumed paying parent is such that meeting the child support obligation as calculated under the standard rules and tables would prove untenable

On a related note, if one parent makes substantially more than the other, this can also impact how the court assesses child support. While child support orders are binding, there may be situations in which either party must seek to modify the existing agreement, such as a considerable change in the paying parent’s financial situation from losing a job. However, this does not mean the paying parent can simply cease fulfilling child support requirements as laid out under the existing order.

When your former spouse or partner is no longer paying the court-mandated amount of child support, retaining a Toronto lawyer with experience in child support enforcement matters may be necessary to pursue the total support amount and back payments.

Possible Methods of Child Support Enforcement in Toronto

When you are in a situation where your child’s other parent is not complying with their support obligations, you may need to seek the court’s assistance to compel them. However, navigating this process without a skilled child support enforcement lawyer in Toronto can prove time-consuming and frustrating, not to mention challenging, particularly if your former spouse is actively taking steps to avoid detection or financial responsibility. A proactive lawyer could make your case about why enforcement is necessary before the court and pursue all plausible avenues for collecting the support owed.

The court can use various methods to enforce a child support order. Sometimes, these can carry severe consequences for the non-complying parent beyond simply back payments for support owed. For example, the court may order to draw the required support amount directly from the non-complying parent’s income. These actions can extend beyond work-related income, including withdrawals from income sources like tax refunds.

More severe actions, such as a lien against the non-complying party’s home, may be taken in some cases. In addition, the suspension of specific professional licenses or documents like the non-complying party’s driver’s license or passport could be ordered. Some judges may see fit to take even further action, which could include the takeover of certain personal assets to satisfy the required support amount, not to mention the potential of fines and even jail time for the violating party.

Consult with a Toronto Child Support Enforcement Lawyer

A misunderstanding or one-off event may be the underlying cause when someone defaults on their child support obligation. However, a much deeper-rooted issue may be at play in other instances. In any case, a Toronto child support enforcement lawyer could stand by your side to help you safeguard the financial interests of your child in all such matters.

A diligent member of our team could go after all prospective options to obtain any back payments due to you while pursuing measures to help you avoid such issues in the future. Even if you share a relatively amicable relationship with your child’s other parent, you should only try to deal with enforcement matters with guidance from experienced legal representation.

Call now to arrange a one-on-one consultation with a capable lawyer about your child support enforcement matter.

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