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By: Jennifer Blackwood <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclaimer:\n<\/strong>The information contained in this article is\ngeneral in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Please contact the Law\nOffice of Jeff Jiehui Li, or another experienced family lawyer if you are\nconcerned about your family law issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Child support is the right of the child\nand it is the responsibility of both parents to ensure that their children are receiving\na proper amount of support. Seeking retroactive child support does not impose\nan obligation that the parent did not already have. It serves to enforce an\nobligation that should have already been fulfilled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Courts must strike a balance between the\npayor parent\u2019s interest in certainty and fairness to his or her children. A\npayor parent will have their interest protected only up to the point when that\ninterest becomes unreasonable. Typically, that interest will be reasonable up\nto the point when the recipient parent raises the subject, up to three years in\nthe past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The leading case on retroactive child support is \u201cDBS\u201d, [2006] S.C.J. No. 37, 2006 SCC 37 (S.C.C). In that case, the Supreme Court of Canada outlined four factors regarding whether to award retroactive child support Delay by the recipient parent in seeking\nchild support is not presumptively justifiable, however, courts must be sensitive\nto practical concerns. For example: <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Blameworthy Conduct of the Payor Parent<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blameworthy conduct is anything that\nprivileges the payor parent\u2019s own interests over his or her children\u2019s right to\nan appropriate amount of support. A payor parent cannot intimidate a recipient\nparent or hide income level increases to avoid larger child support payments. Even\nwhere a payor parent does nothing active to avoid his or her obligations, he or\nshe might still be acting in a blameworthy manner if he or she is consciously\nignorant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Circumstances of the Child<\/p>\n\n\n\n After separation, a child\u2019s standard of living should remain as close as possible to the standard he or she enjoyed while his or her parents were together. Courts consider all circumstances, before and after, in determining the child\u2019s needs at the time the support should have been paid. For example, whether the child underwent hardship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Hardship Occasioned by a Retroactive Award<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retroactive awards can cause hardship where\na prospective award may not since the quantum of the award is usually based on\npast income rather than present income. Payor parents may have other family\nobligations to meet that may cause hardship for a payor parent\u2019s other child(ren).\nCourts attempt to craft the retroactive award in a way that minimizes hardship.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issues of retroactive child support can be complicated. If you need assistance with your family law issues from a solutions-driven firm that is experienced in resolving family disputes efficiently, feel free to contact our office at (416) 800-7196. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u4f5c\u8005\uff1aJennifer Blackwood\u514d\u8d23\u58f0\u660e\uff1a\u672c\u6587\u6240\u542b\u4fe1\u606f\u4e3a\u4e00\u822c\u6027\u4fe1\u606f\uff0c\u4e0d\u6784\u6210\u6cd5\u5f8b\u5efa\u8bae\u3002\u5982\u679c\u60a8\u5bf9\u81ea\u5df1\u7684\u5a5a\u59fb\u72b6\u51b5\u611f\u5230\u62c5\u5fe7\uff0c\u8bf7\u8054\u7cfb Jeff Jiehui Li \u5f8b\u5e08\u4e8b\u52a1\u6240\u6216\u5176\u4ed6\u7ecf\u9a8c\u4e30\u5bcc\u7684\u5bb6\u5ead\u5f8b\u5e08\u3002<\/p>\n\n