Stevens v. Stevens

Stevens v. Stevens

The court treated the application as an original s.15.2 application, applied Miglin, found the separation agreement valid but no longer fully correspondent to parties' positions, imputed $15,000 annually to Mr. Stevens and fixed his income at $75,000 p.a., ordered spousal support at the higher end of the SSAG 'without child support' formula effective May 1, 2008, made the term indefinite given recipient's needs, cancelled spousal arrears except for $18,389 of unpaid child support, and ordered exchange of tax returns and divorce to issue.

Citation
2013 BCSC 1899
Parties
Claimant: John Michael Stevens; Respondent: Cathleen Stevens
Court
Supreme Court of British Columbia
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
18 October 2013
Procedural Posture
Spousal Support Application (divorce Act S.15.2) / Trial Judgment (reasons for Judgment)
Outcome
Application granted in part.
Legal Topics
Variation of Support, Miglin Analysis, Imputation of Income, Enforceability of Filed Separation Agreement (fra S.122), Cancellation of Arrears, Duration of Support
Source Language
English
Family Law Spousal Support Child Support Contract (separation Agreement) Income Imputation Variation of Support Miglin Analysis Imputation of Income +3 more

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Parties

John Michael Stevens

Claimant

Cathleen Stevens

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Spousal Support Application (divorce Act S.15.2) / Trial Judgment (reasons for Judgment)

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether Mr. Stevens reasonably reduced his earnings or intentionally became under‑employed to defeat support obligations
  2. 2 Whether the filed separation agreement can be varied or requires an original s.15.2 order
  3. 3 Appropriate income to use for calculating spousal and child support including imputation of income

Ratio Decidendi

The court treated the application as an original s.15.2 application, applied Miglin, found the separation agreement valid but no longer fully correspondent to parties' positions, imputed $15,000 annually to Mr. Stevens and fixed his income at $75,000 p.a., ordered spousal support at the higher end of the SSAG 'without child support' formula effective May 1, 2008, made the term indefinite given recipient's needs, cancelled spousal arrears except for $18,389 of unpaid child support, and ordered exchange of tax returns and divorce to issue.

Court Disposition

Application granted in part.

Orders

  • Mr. Stevens to be treated as having an annual income of CAD 75,000 for spousal support purposes effective May 1, 2008.
  • Spousal support to be paid at the higher end of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines using the 'without child support' formula for the imputed income; counsel to calculate amounts or refer to the Registrar if unable to agree.