Canada Case Law

A.C.S. v. C.J.S.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court excluded the GoFundMe donations from the claimant's Guideline income and found the claimant's Guideline income commencing October 1, 2025 to be CAD 32,552 (employment insurance). The court imputed annual income of CAD 175,000 to the respondent (CAD 100,000 employment income and CAD 75,000 dividends) because of inadequate disclosure, inconsistent lifestyle with reported income and evidence of income manipulation; applied the Guidelines and relevant authorities to compute ongoing support of CAD 2,821 per month from October 1, 2025. The review effective date is June 19, 2024; the court…

Source excerpt

• Child support guidelines
• Imputation of income
• Retroactive child support
• Section 7 expenses
• Disclosure obligations
• Review/variation of support order

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Watkins v. Collins

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

Retroactive child support recalculation is ordered from September 2016 (the month after the Final Order) through calendar years to September 2025; 2022 support based on actual reported income; 2023 and 2024 income imputed to full‑time minimum wage due to underemployment, unreported cash work and voluntary departure from the fishing industry; retroactive arrears calculated accordingly and set to be repaid at $200/month commencing last day of September 2025; prospective child support set on applicant's 2025 income of $34,436 producing $242/month starting last day of September 2025.

Source excerpt

• Retroactive variation
• Imputation of income
• Child support guidelines
• Undue hardship
• Disability tax credit
• Prospective support

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Stollery v. Stollery

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Cross applications in a family law matter: disclosure fines, income imputation, child support, spousal support, and s. 7 expenses were addressed on an interim basis.

• Income imputation
• Section 213 family law act fines
• Rule 9-1 disclosure demands
• S.7 special expenses
• Spousal support advisory guidelines
• Child support guidelines

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P.M.L. v. M.U.N.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court changed parenting time to a week-on, week-off schedule, imputed income to both parties, set child and spousal support, and granted a divorce.

• Income imputation
• Parenting schedule change
• Child support guidelines
• Spousal support objectives
• Vehicle loan transfer
• Bankruptcy and disclosure

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C.R.D. v. A.A.D.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court varied child support prospectively from 2022, terminated spousal support effective September 1, 2020, and denied earlier retroactive reductions and a s. 211 report.

• Retroactive variation of support
• Material change in circumstances
• Disclosure obligations
• Child support guidelines
• Spousal support review
• Views of the child report (s.211 fla)

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MacDonald v. MacDonald

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court adjourned the support application but made a without-prejudice bridge order requiring the respondent to pay $18,000 monthly pending the main hearing.

• Interim spousal support
• Interim child support
• Adjournment
• Income imputation
• Child support guidelines
• Interim-spousal-support

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Ward v. Murphy

Court

Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

The Court dismissed the fresh evidence motion and appeal: the rehearing judge complied with the Court of Appeal’s directions, properly performed the mandatory add-back analysis under s.18(2), applied gross-up where appropriate, attributed adjusted pre-tax corporate income under s.18(1)(a) (including a 50% add-back of wages in the pandemic context and CCA adjustments), correctly treated CRA tax deductions as not determinative for Guidelines purposes, found no reasonable apprehension of bias, and had discretion to award costs; no material error of law or serious misapprehension of evidence was…

Source excerpt

• Child support guidelines
• Attribution of corporate pre-tax income (s.18)
• Imputed income (s.19)
• Fresh evidence on appeal
• Judicial bias
• Costs

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Ardalani v. Glioza

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Family property, child support and spousal support were determined after a lengthy marriage. The court ordered equal division with monetary adjustments and granted a divorce.

• Unequal division under family law act s.95
• Constructive trust
• Section 7 expenses
• Child support guidelines
• Spousal support entitlement and objectives
• Disclosure and document production

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Auer v. Auer

Court

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court held that reasonableness review presumptively applies to vires challenges to subordinate legislation and upheld the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

• Standard of review
• Vires of subordinate legislation
• Presumption of validity
• Child support guidelines
• Administrative-law
• Standard-of-review

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L.C.H. v. L.J.K.

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

On interim family-law applications, the court appointed a s. 211 assessor, continued counselling for the child, enforced parenting-coordination orders, and ordered compensatory parenting time.

• Section 211 assessment
• Parenting coordination
• Counselling for child
• Denial of parenting time
• Child support guidelines
• Contempt and enforcement sanctions

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