The Quebec Child Support Form: Asking for Payments to be Higher or Lower Than the Amount Calculated

In some situations, a parent can ask a judge to increase or decrease the amount of child support payments based on the Child Support Determination Form.

After Child Support Payments Have Been Calculated

Take a situation in which the children live with their father. Their mother sees them every two weeks. Both parents complete the Child Support Determination Form to calculate how much child support the mother must pay the father:

• The father thinks the amount calculated based on the form is too low. The mother is the only shareholder of a very successful company and could have the company pay her a dividend, but she doesn’t. When calculating the amount of child support, the father wants the fact that the mother owns a company to be considered.
• The mother thinks the support payments are too high. She is already paying child support for two children from another marriage, and she would like this to be taken into account.

Can the parents ask a judge to increase or decrease the amount calculated on the Child Support Determination Form?

When Judges Can Get Involved

A parent can ask a judge to increase or decrease the amount of child support payments on the Child Support Determination Form in these cases:

• One parent is in one of these situations:
  • The parent has valuable property, for example, shares in a company.
  • The parent pays some of the family’s debts, for example, student loans.
  • The parent is already making support payments for someone else, for example, for a child from another marriage or to a former spouse.
  • The parent pays travel expenses to visit the children, for example, the children live with their father in Holland and the mother must pay for a plane ticket every time she wants to see the children.
  • The parent pays extra expenses because the other parent doesn’t see the children as planned, for example, the father doesn’t take the children every two weeks, even if a court decision says he should.
• The child receiving support has his or her own source of income.

Judges Can Refuse to Change Support Payments

Even in situations like the ones described in this article, a judge can refuse a parent’s request to increase or decrease child support calculated on the Child Support Determination Form.

The judge who hears a request to increase or decrease support payments has a lot of discretion and can refuse the parent’s request for many different reasons.