Child Support When Income Over $150k

With Shelly Banihashemi

Child Support When Income over $150K Video Transcript

Please note: The script may not be exactly what is spoken, but contains the same information as presented in the video.

Hello, my name is Shelly Banihashemi and I am an associate at the Feldstein Family Law Group. In today’s session, I will be discussing child support based on the Federal Child Support Guidelines and more specifically, what happens when a parent’s income is over $150,000.00.

Calculating child support in Ontario is regulated by the Federal Child Support Guidelines, which enclose a Table that prescribes monthly child support payments, based on the income of the paying spouse and the number of children he or she is responsible for supporting. The range of annual income accounted for on the Table is $8,000.00 to $150,000.00.

This Table is the starting point for determining monthly child support payments, as per Section 3 of the aforementioned Guidelines.

Section 4 of the Guidelines deals with incomes above $150,000.00, because depending on the circumstances, the Court may deem the amount of child support based on an income of $150,000.00 to be inappropriate for a recipient child whose paying parent makes, for example, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars annually.

In deciding how to deal with the paying parent’s income in excess of $150,000.00, the Court will consider the condition, means, needs, and other circumstances of the children entitled to support, as well as the financial ability of each spouse to support the children. The Court will also consider the special and extraordinary expenses of the children, such as orthodontics, ice hockey, dance lessons, camp, and other activities of that nature. The Table amount for one child at an income of $150,000.00 annually is $1,254.00 per month. A certain percentage of income above $150,000.00 is added to the monthly support amount where the paying parent makes more than $150,000.00 per year. Typically, the Court sticks to the Table formula and therefore would prescribe the full Guidelines amount until the paying spouse’s annual income gets into the multi-millions, where the monthly support amount could become unconscionable. For example, if the payor of child support was earning $3,000,000.00 dollars, he or she would be obligated to pay $22,344.00 per month in child support for one child.

However, there are cases where the court has not reduced the Table child support from the Guideline amount at income levels above $150,000.00. For example, at an annual income of $300,000.00, the Table amount increases to $2,364.00 per month which may be far more proportionate to the needs of the child.

For more information regarding child support and your obligation to pay or your entitlement to receive child support, please review our website at www.separation.ca or contact us for a consultation.

Thank you for watching and I’ll see you next time!