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ARTICLE · 09 FEBRUARY 2023

Compliance With The Child Support Guidelines – Is It Optional?

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Navigating legal and financial issues that impact your life when your family dynamic changes can be challenging. Subscribe to FamilyMatters, our Lerners Family Law blog series...

CanadaFamily and Matrimonial
William R. Clayton
William R. Clayton
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Navigating legal and financial issues that impact your life when your family dynamic changes can be challenging. Subscribe to FamilyMatters, our Lerners Family Law blog series, which provides insightful information and helps you determine your next steps.

The Federal Child Support Guidelines, pronounced under the Divorce Act, and Provincial Child Support Guidelines, pronounced under relevant Provincial Family Law legislation, came into effect on April 1, 1997, nearly 26 years ago. In spite of that, there still seems to be a lack of awareness of the fact that the Child Support Guidelines regulate and govern child support and that compliance with the Guidelines is required. The ability of parents to make their own arrangements with respect to child support was severely circumscribed by the enactment of the Child Support Guidelines and yet there are still parents who make their own deals with respect to child support, that fall well outside the dictates of the Child

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