Jennifer Lopez recently split from Husband Marc Anthony. Both parties had
been in previous marriages; and Marc Anthony had two children from his
previous marriage. This is far from uncommon these days; and this gives
us a chance to discuss one of the consequences of the breakdown of these
kinds of integrated families. If Jennifer and Marc lived in Ontario, would
Lopez be required to pay child support for Anthony’s children from
another marriage?
The
Divorce Act states in Section 15.1, that a court can order an individual to pay child
support for any “children of the marriage.” The act also provides
a definition for who precisely is a child of the marriage. That definition is:
“child of the marriage” means a child of two spouses or former
spouses who, at the material time,(a) is under the age of majority and who has not withdrawn from their charge, or
(b) is the age of majority or over and under their charge but unable, by
reason of illness, disability or other cause, to withdraw from their charge
or to obtain the necessaries of life;
Child of the marriage(2) For the purposes of the definition “child of the marriage”
in subsection (1), a child of two spouses or former spouses includes(a) any child for whom they both stand in the place of parents; and
(b) any child of whom one is the parent and for whom the other stands in
the place of a parent.
So, if Jennifer was found to be standing in the place of a parent, also
known as standing
in loco parentis,for Marc’s children; she would have an obligation to pay support for
the children. In the case of
Chartier v. Chartier the Supreme Court of Canada stated that a person stands in the place of
a parent when they display a settled intention to treat the child as part
of their family. So Jennifer, if she has displayed a settled intention
to treat Marc Anthony’s children as part of her own family, could
discover that while “Love don’t cost a thing” child support sure can.