Difference between revisions of "Spousal Support"

This section provides an introduction to the law on spousal support. The other sections in this chapter explore issues about spousal support in more detail, including the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines.  

This page also looks at what happens when a potential recipient applies for social assistance and reviews the income tax consequences of spousal support payments.

Spousal support is paid for one of two reasons, either to help cover the recipient's living expenses and help the recipient get by as a single person without the benefit of the payor's income and other household contributions, or to compensate the recipient for financial decisions made by the spouses during their relationship.

A spouse who is self-sufficient, or readily capable of becoming self-sufficient, at the end of a relationship will not usually be entitled to receive spousal support.

(Incidentally, the law in British Columbia doesn't talk about people who are ''common-law spouses'' and never has. Once upon a time, people could marry each other and create a legal relationship simply by agreeing to marry, without getting a licence from the government or having a particular kind of ceremony. Because the rights between the spouses came from common law principles, these were known as ''common-law'' marriages. Common-law marriages were valid in England until the ''Marriage Act'' of 1753, better known by its full flowery name, ''An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage''. Please don't use this term. It doesn't mean what most people think it means and is two and a half centuries out of date.)

*'''Length of marriage:''' The longer the relationship, the more likely it is that an order for spousal support will be made. As well, the longer the relationship is, the stronger will be the presumption will be that the parties should have an equal or almost equal standard of living at its conclusion.

Once a spouse has established that he or she has an entitlement to receive spousal support, the question becomes how much support the spouse ought to get. Generally speaking, the amount of an order for spousal support is calculated by looking at the disposable income of the payor and the reasonable needs of the recipient. If a payor has a gross income of, say, $2,000 per month, and of that money $1,500 is spent on taxes, child support, housing costs, utilities and other basic living expenses, the payor's disposable income will be $500 per month. Spousal support will usually be paid out of that remaining $500 per month if it's payable at all. Although spouses usually share in the financial consequences of the end of their relationship, the court will not force someone into bankruptcy to provide support for the other spouse, although there certainly are times when a support order will result in the payor racking up debt.

The amount of spousal support payments is now generally calculated using the [[Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines]]. The Advisory Guidelines is an academic paper released by the federal Department of Justice which describes a number of mathematical formulas which calculate the amount of spousal support payments based on each person's income, the length of their relationship and the age of their children, and other factors.

Sometimes there is simply not enough money coming in to cover child support, the payor's day-to-day needs and the day-to-day needs of the recipient. In cases like that, both the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' and the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' require child support to take priority over spousal support, and the amount of spousal support paid simply may not suffice to cover the recipient's needs.

Once a spouse's entitlement to receive spousal support is established and the amount of support payments has been fixed, the next step is to look at is the length of time for which the support payments should be made. For people leaving long relationships, spousal support might be paid permanently or until retirement. For people in shorter relationships, particularly where the recipient is either working outside the home or capable of working outside the home, support might only be payable for a fixed length of time.

*'''Lump sum payments:''' Instead of on-going monthly payments, it can sometimes be better to pay a single lump sum for all of these support payments made at once. Of course, the payor has to be able to pay a lump sum like that, and not everyone can.

It is almost always possible to apply to change an order for spousal support or to renegotiate an separation agreement that requires the payment of spousal support, as long as there has been a change in circumstances since the order or agreement was made.