The famous comedian and actor, George Lopez, and his wife Ann Lopez are
ending their 17 year marriage. Sources state that the parties mutually
agreed to end the marriage but that they will continue to remain partners
of their business and a philanthropic organization called “The Lopez
Foundation”. They have one child together, Mayan Lopez.
How would the couple deal with the issues arising out of their separation
in Ontario?
Custody and Access
The custody of a child relates to important decisions that affect the child.
Unlike some of the laws in the United States, it does not relate to the
physical custody of a child (In Ontario, it is called ‘access’
or ‘parenting time’). Custody involves the right to make important
decisions such as where the child will go to school, what medication she/he
will take, what religious upbringing she/he will follow and overall day
to day decisions that will affect a child’s best interests. Given
that George and Ann intend on remaining partners of their organization,
“The Lopez Foundation”, and the fact that they would like to
continue their business together, it is evident that they are on good
terms. The Court prefers to award joint custody to parties that have an
amicable relationship as it is much easier for the parties to make joint
decisions about the children, rather than to argue about said decisions.
Based on the foregoing, we can assume that an Ontario judge would likely
award the parties with a joint custody regime as they are on good terms together.
Who will get primary residency?
A judge may award primary residency to the parent who primarily cared
for Mayan during the marriage and even after the separation. Assuming
that George was working during the majority of the parties’ marriage,
then it is possible that the Judge will award primary residence with Ann
and George will have access/parenting time. George will have a difficult
time arguing that primary residency should be awarded to him as he most
likely has a busy work schedule. Remember that parties can have joint
custody of a child (as it relates to joint decision making), even if the
child lives primarily with one parent.
Child Support and Special Expenses
Child support is money that is payable to the parent who has Mayan in their
primary care. Assuming that Ann would have Mayan in her care, George would
have to pay a specific amount of child support to Ann per month. The amount
of child support payable is based on the FederalChild Support Guidelines (“Guidelines”) that considers George’s income and the number
of children the payor supports, here being one.
Mayan’s special expenses, also known as Section 7 expenses are expenses
such as tutoring, dance classes, a nanny and so forth. These expenses
are not paid by the child support recipient alone. Section 7 expenses
are determined based on whether such expenses are in the child’s best
interest and the reasonableness of such expenses in relation to George
and Ann’s ability to pay for such expenses. Typically, parties decide
on section 7 expenses together as they are both expected to contribute to same.
Spousal Support
In Ontario,
spousal support will be awarded to party who can demonstrate that they are in need of
it. The length of the marriage will also be taken into account, here being
a relatively long marriage of seventeen years. As noted above, the parties
have a business together. It is unlikely that either party will make a
claim for support given that both parties should have significant capital
after the property issues have been resolved. As such, spousal support
will most likely not be awarded because neither party is in need of it.
If either party was entitled to spousal support, the Court would have
regard to the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines. As the title indicates,
they are merely advisory in nature and do not have to be adhered to. Conversely,
the Child Support Guidelines are to be followed as discussed above.
Equalization of Net Family Property
Equalization of net family property allows George and Ann to share equally
the value of assets acquired during the course of their marriage. Each
party will need to take into account all the property/assets they acquired
during the marriage. The spouse whose net family property is the lesser
of the two is entitled to one half of the difference between them. For
more information regarding equalization please visit our
website. In this case, it is likely that George will have to pay an equalization
payment to Ann.