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Initial support agreement

making a child support agreement one of the jobs of parents is to support their kids financially this is something they have to do even if they get separated or divorced this is called child support in many families it means one parent pays the other parent to help cover the cost of caring for their children parents should think about child support as soon as they separate many parents can figure out child support without going to court they can do this on their own or with the help of an expert the federal government created some rules to help parents work out the amount of child support that should be paid that's because kids do much better when they get the financial support they need in this video you will see two examples of how parents can work out the details of making their own child support agreements after a 7 year marriage Gary and Sonya have just separated they have two children they know it's important to make a decision about child support right away they want to avoid going to court so they agreed to make their own child support agreement they have also agreed to go to a Family Justice counselor to get help family justice counselors throughout British Columbia help people with matters relating to separation and divorce in this scenario Gary was the first to go for an appointment I'm here because I want to make a child support agreement now that my wife and I are separated that's great I can help you with that have you had any discussions about where the children will live the children will live with both of us about the same amount of time I am going to have them one week and then Sonya will have them for the next week at her place we've got room set up for them in both her homes and we're going to share the holidays that arrangement is called shared parenting the child support calculator we found on the internet said the parent who receives child support is the one who has the children the most amount of the time more than 60% of the time to be specific but that's not our case well when you share parenting as in your case you calculate the child support amount using the annual income of both of the parents did you happen to bring your income tax return for last year or any other financial documents here's my income tax return from last year I made twenty five thousand dollars and I think Sonia earned twenty thousand yeah it says here on line one fifty that your income was twenty five thousand before taxes so Sonia will have to bring in her financial documents when she comes in could and Sonia and Isis decide how to share the cost of raising the children absolutely that is one way of doing it if you can both agree however the federal government created the child support guidelines so that parents know what they should pay according to the law the amounts are based on what an average parent at each income level would usually spend on their children if the parents were still together so what's another way well it's easiest to explain using the online child support calculator normally if kids live most of the time at one house then the other parent is the one who pays child support but since you are sharing the parenting almost 50/50 we can calculate the amount based on both of your incomes so we type in your gross annual income twenty five thousand the number of children to and the province that you live in British Columbia and then I click the lookup button and there it is according to the child support guidelines you would pay sonya three hundred and ninety one dollars per month if you were the paying parent now we're gonna do the same thing in reverse for sonya although i will need to confirm her income later we'll use the twenty thousand just for numbers today we enter her gross annual amount the number of children and the province three hundred and twenty three dollars a month and child support then we split the difference so three ninety one minus three twenty three is sixty eight dollars in child support this is just a starting point and it can be adjusted to accommodate your family circumstances i can be in that well sixty eight dollars is just the basic child support amount for the regular household expenses like food clothing shelter you might also want to look at an amount for other expenses such as the daycare dentist or any after-school activities these are called special or extraordinary expenses i'd really like our son and daughter to continue with their activities and my mom takes care of the children so we don't have any daycare expenses do you know how much the other activities will cost no I'll have to come back with that information well when you have that specific information you and Sonya could decide on how best to share the cost of those expenses another way you can use a formula based on your income I'll give you an example if I add Sonya is $20,000 to your twenty five thousand dollars we get a total of forty five thousand dollars then we figure out what proportion of that forty five thousand each of you makes so her twenty thousand dollars of the total gives her portion at forty four percent and your portion is fifty six percent of the total so that's the percentage of the cost that you should contribute to the special expenses so how would we calculate that last bit well let's say that all the activities cost about $600 for both children and we said that Sonya makes forty four percent of your combined income so if we calculate the forty four percent of six hundred that makes 264 dollars that she will pay towards the cost of the activities now you make 56 percent of your combined income so 56 percent of 600 is 336 that's what you'll pay towards the cost of all of their extraordinary activities that sounds manageable I think Sonia and I are going to be able to work this without going to court based on the information that you gave me today you would pay Sonia approximately 68 dollars a month in basic child support and another $28 a month towards the activities now you and Sonia can agree to this informal arrangement if that works or if Sonia provides her income documents to me I can help you make a formal agreement with the help of a family justice counselor Gary learned how to figure out basic child support he also learned one of the ways parents can share the cost of other expenses for the children Gary and Sonia can keep their agreement informal or go into the family justice counselor together to create a formal signed agreement if one of them has a change to their financial situation they can make a new agreement based on the new situation now let's see how another couple work out their child support agreement Bob and Mary live in British Columbia and have separated after an eight year common-law relationship their two children live mostly with Mary Bob and Mary do not want to go to court for child support because it would cost them extra time and money however they cannot agree on the amount of child support Bob should pay Mary they have each met with a family justice counselor already now they have an appointment for mediation as a mediator the Family Justice counselor won't make decisions for them but will act as a neutral person who will help them to reach a decision they both can live with thanks for coming in I'm going to help assist you to figure out a plan regarding your children Bob why don't we start with you well I just started at my new biz about two years ago and I'm having trouble just trying to get it off the ground I just can't have too many other expenses I don't see why I should pay the required child support payments considering my situation all parents have a legal responsibility to help pay the costs of raising their children sure I want to help my kids it's not like I don't love them it's just that I don't want to pay as much as that child support calculator on the internet says I should the children are living with meri most of the time so I know that makes me the paying parent but when I put into the calculator what I earned last year I thought whoa that's way too much I just can't pay that right now but it's for the children mom how can I support them on my own I'm already got a lot of household expenses because they live with me while there is a daycare now that I'm back at work yeah but now I have to rent my own place and I can't predict how my business is going to do it is often the challenge managing the finances after a separation according to your statement of business activities last year you earned $30,000 before taxes were taken off so when you look at the government tables for basic child support for two children you would be parenting meri 463 dollars per month yeah but I still can't afford that amount it's not like I'm raking in the money well 463 dollars it's not gonna even cover the daycare or any activities our six-year-old wants to do 463 dollars is just the basic child support daycare expenses are what the guidelines call special or extraordinary expenses these expenses also include things like medical and dental bills that are not covered by your work benefits plan they can also include music lessons or sports activities but I've just started a new business when it takes off I'll be making more and then I can pay more so what happens in the meantime what if I went to court I could probably convince a judge that the child support guidelines mount is unreasonable in my situation I don't think so I read up on this you'd have to prove that the child support amount would cause undue hardship which doesn't mean it would make things difficult for you but cause real hardship in rare in specifics or stances the child support table amounts are found to cause undue hardship only a judge can decide that judges expect parents to do everything they can to meet their legal responsibilities towards their children you made more last year than the year before and I think you make more this year don't you I'm expecting things to go well yes maybe you can cut some of your expenses live more cheaply somehow find other suppliers it isn't like I want this money for myself it's for Christine and Mathieu but what about daycare am I expected to pay that too typically it is both parents who contribute to the cost of daycare if you two decide it's also reasonable to pay for after-school activities maybe at a later date you can write that into your agreement I just thought of something I claimed it care expenses of my income tax return does that have an impact yes it does I can estimate the amount of the tax credit and that would lower the amount that Bob pays per month the Family Justice counselor helped Bob and Mary work out basic child support she also showed them how parents can share the cost of other expenses for the children she added their incomes together then worked out the percentage that each of them earned by putting their share into percentages Bob and Mary found it easier to figure out how much to contribute to the children's daycare costs so what do you think about today's discussion you figured out that Bob would pay four hundred and sixty three dollars a month in basic child support and another four hundred dollars towards the daycare expenses this is going to be tough but I will do it for the kids and Mary do you agree to pay the other two hundred dollars a month for the daycare based on your income yes so this is your plan if the circumstances change for either your income or your expenses you can revisit these amounts what happens if I make less one year or Mary makes more money next year great question if you earn less then you can come back here to work out a new agreement or you can figure out one on your own following the child support guidelines you can also calculate how much you should pay for the special expenses by using the percentages that I showed you or you can do it yourself or later I can help you formally change the document I've heard that there is a program they will organize the payments for us they would move the money from Bob's account into mine every month yes that's the family maintenance enforcement program they make sure that payments happen and they will keep track of what payments have been made so that's never in question if the payments don't happen they do have the ability to enforce them I don't think we need to do that right now okay I will write this up as a draft and I can mail it to you for review when you're both ready I can witness your signatures and then assist you to file it at the court if necessary you can use a copy of that filed agreement to enroll in this program okay I think I have a better understanding how this works now and so do i Bob and I will talk about any financial changes in our situation at least once a year that's great and I'm really glad that you were able to work everything out today thank you before mediation Bob and Mary couldn't agree on how much child support Bob should pay during mediation Bob discovered that he could change their child support agreement if his business suffered a big downturn this made him feel more willing to pay the required amount based on his current income he understands the importance of maintaining the children's standard of living as much as possible now that he and Mary are separated you