The current child support guidelines are unfair and unjust!

They create an over payment and net transfer of wealth from the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent.  In the majority of cases, the result is most paying parents struggle to make ends meet and cannot afford to provide an adequate standard of living for their child(ren) equal to the lifestyle the child(ren) receive with the receiving parent.

The guidelines are biased and do not treat the paying parent as an equal to the receiving parent.  The guidelines ASSUME the non-custodial parent NEVER sees their child(ren) and therefore have zero costs themselves providing for them.  This is just simply not the case!  While the guidelines and the equivalence scale used are intended to create equality between the parents, what actually happens is a significant over payment by the paying parent (almost 50% of their take home pay in some cases!) while some receiving parents use the child(ren) as a pay cheque.

If a paying parent wants to change this their hands are also tied.  Their only course of action is a costly legal battle through a court system that already favours the custodial parent and rarely considers anything other than the guidelines.

Christopher Sarlo's report entitled "An Assessment of the Federal Child Support Guidelines" published in August 2014 by the Fraser Institute accurately analyses the current guidelines and identifies the many issues therein. Some of these include:

• They use an excessively high equivalence scale.  This was done purposely to create high support payments.
• Part of the reason for selecting a high equivalence scale was to cover all child costs, however at the 11th hour "extraordinary expenses" were added to the guidelines, creating an unfair double payment system.
• The guidelines assume that child spending is consistently proportional to income, which is never the case.
• The guidelines ignore government benefits received by the custodial parent.
• The guidelines do not consider time spent with the non-custodial parent if it does not equal a 60/40 split.
• The guidelines ignore the child costs of the non-custodial parent.
• The cost of children at different ages is ignored.
• The income of the receiving parent is ignored.
• The guidelines ignore the re-partnering status of either parent.
• The guidelines ignore the value of being with the children.

Combined, all these significant issues with the child support guidelines create non-custodial parents who struggle to make ends meet, with no avenue for change; because the system unfairly favours the custodial parent and does not take into account any real life factors in today's society.

The fact is, the overwhelming majority of non-custodial parents love and care deeply about their child(ren) and want to support them, provide for them, and care for them every chance they get.  It is time to change the laws and guidelines to put the paying parent on equal terms to the custodial parent when it comes to providing for the child(ren).

 It is time for Canada to change this inequality between parents.  It is time for Canada to move to a system that encourages equal parenting.  It is time for Canada to change the current outdated system that does not reflect society today.  It is time for Canada to abolish the current combative system that encourages lengthy and expensive legal battles.

It is time for Canada to change the Child Support Guidelines and Divorce Act.

It is time to consider the children when they are with either parent.  It is time to consider all parties involved.

It is the children who suffer most when one of their parents struggles.