Section 7 Expenses for the Children of Marriage

In the recent Ward v. Ward decision (2015 ONSC 6221 CanLII), the Honourable Mr. Justice Price provided an excellent overview of issues that are at play in most family law cases involving children. The focus of this blog will be on the issue of section 7 special and extraordinary expenses from that decision.

The Honourable Mr. Justice Price refers to the Court of Appeal’s decision in Titova v. Titov in which the court set out the procedure used for determining the basis for special and extraordinary expenses. The steps that need to be undertaken for the determination of the same are:

1. Calculate each party’s income for child support purposes;
2. Determine whether the claimed expenses falls within one of the enumerated categories of the section 7;
3. Determine whether the claimed expenses are necessary in relation to the child’s best interests;
4. Determine whether the claimed expenses are reasonable in relation to the means of the spouses and those of the child and to the family’s spending pattern prior to the separation;
5. If the expenses fall under s. 7(1)(d) or (f) of the Guidelines, then the judge determines if the expenses are “extraordinaryâ€;
6. Consider what amount, if any, the child should reasonably contribute towards the payment of these expenses; and,
7. Apply any tax deductions or credits.

https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2015/2015onsc6221/2015onsc6221.html