REPORT ON FEDERAL- PROVINCIAL- TERRITORIAL CONSULTATIONS
APPENDIX C
: REPORT ON QUEBEC WORKSHOPS
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351
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notions that might better explain the impact of shared custody on the division of shared
expenses.
In sole custody cases, support contributions cover all expenses related to child care (housing,
food, clothing, education, health, recreation, etc.). It follows that the non-custodial parent is
only responsible for expenses that directly result from the exercise of his or her access rights.
Furthermore, child care expenses, post-secondary education expenses and special
expenses, as recorded at Line 406 of the Child Support Determination Form, are not open to
interpretation since they are added to the level of support to be paid based on the disposable
income of each parent (Line 407). Thus, in all cases, the parent receiving support must also
cover these expenses, regardless of the custody arrangement, unless arranged otherwise in
a specific agreement between the parties. For instance, it could be arranged that the non-
custodial parent pay certain fees directly to a third party, such as a private school, a day care,
etc.
On the other hand, in shared custody cases, the question of who should defray certain
expenses is often open to interpretation. At issue here are shared costs linked to the
purchase of certain goods and services, i.e. expenses which are incurred on a recurring basis
(the purchase of clothing, health-care expenses, registration costs for a sporting activity, etc.)
and are shared by the two households. Some contend that these expenses, like special
expenses, should be covered by the parent receiving support, whereas others would argue
that these costs should be divided according to the income of each parent.
The mechanism for dealing with cases of shared custody, found in Part 3 of the form, is
based on the principle that support is paid to the lower-income parent. Support payments
serve to make up for the gap between custody expenses and the basic parental support
contribution so that each parent has the necessary resources to cover expenses related to
child care. It follows that, once the level of support is determined at Line 534 (“Annual
support payable”), shared expenses, as defined above, should be covered by both
parents according to the custody time of each one. These expenses are independent of
the parents’ income. Support payments serve to balance out the cost of child care according
to custody time so that each parent may then cover his or her share of expenses related to
child care.
Thus the Regulation stipulates that each parent must cover these expenditures, when they
arise, in proportion to custody time (40% to 60% according to the case); one party is then
reimbursed by the other for these expenses according to a pre-determined arrangement. In
practice, some people find this way of proceeding cumbersome and inappropriate. They are,
however, free to establish their own payment system so long as it remains within the
framework of the regulation. For instance, the parents might together estimate the annual
cost of clothing, after which one party would give the other a lump sum covering his or her
share of these expenses (40% to 60%, as the case may be). The parent having received this
payment would subsequently be responsible for all clothing purchases.
BOTH SOLE AND SHARED CUSTODY INVOLVING TWO OR MORE CHILDREN
According to the statistics, parents with two or more children having chosen an arrangement
whereby at least one parent has sole custody of at least one child and both parents have joint
custody of at least another child represent 10% of all sample cases. In 7% of all cases, the
parents have opted for sole exclusive custody of at least one child each, while 3% of parents
share custody of two or more children.
Now then, the table was designed, and quite rightly so, to reflect the assumption that the cost
of having two or more children is not twice or three times, etc. the cost of caring for only one
child, provided obviously that the children in question live in the same home. The table takes