I hope her fourth husband is not as much a junior to Ashton Kutcher as
the dude who lost his car was to John McClane… I mean Bruce Willis.
You’re reading correctly: according to several sources, including
TMZ.com,
radaronline.com, and magazine covers everywhere, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are getting
a divorce. This process will likely involve millions, but what I am most
curious about is whether or not Moore would be entitled to child support
from Kutcher, who is not the biological father of her children.
The rumours began to swirl when US Weekly spotted a moving truck outside
the couples’ L.A. area home. Their six-year marriage was jeopardized
by Kutcher’s well-publicized affair with Sara Leal this past September.
Attempts to reconcile, which included a private camping trip near Santa
Barbara last weekend, have been futile thus far. Assuming Demi was seeking
child support, and she and Ashton were Canadian and their matter was resolved
through the Canadian Legal System, what areas of the
Family Law Act and/or the
Child Support Support Guidelines should they be advised of?
Section 5 of the
Child Support Guidelines reads as follows:
Spouse in place of a parent
5. Where the spouse against whom a child support order is sought stands
in the place of a parent for a child, the amount of a child support order
is, in respect of that spouse, such amount as the court considers appropriate,
having regard to these Guidelines and any other parent’s legal duty
to support the child.
Was Mr. Kutcher “standing the place of a parent?” The Supreme
Court of Canada in
Chartier v. Chartier said that that a person demonstrated a settled intention to parent, and
stood in the place of a parent, when they have shown a settled intention
to treat the child as part of their own family. This means they will take
into consideration things like the quantity and quality of time spent
with the children; whether or not Mr. Kutcher was contributing to the
decision-making with respect to the children; and whether or not Mr. Kutcher
was open about his intention to treat the child as part of his own family.
This list of factors is merely a glimpse at some of the many that the
Court will consider.
The media often portrayed Moore, Kutcher, and Moore’s three daughters
as tight-knit unit, and one that frequently incorporated the presence
of their biological father, Bruce Willis. Assuming there is enough evidence
to back-up a potential claim for entitlement to support, establishing
the quantum becomes intriguing because of Kutcher’s annual income,
which is well over $150,000.00. As a result of Section 4 of the
Child Support Guidelines, the Court has discretion to award an amount different than the Table
amount of support where the Table amount is deemed inappropriate.
A third issue surrounding child support in this case would be what impact,
if any, the monthly amount received by Moore from Willis would have on
Kutcher’s obligation to pay moving forward. Perhaps that is a subject
for next week’s Blog.
For more information on Child Support, please see our
website.