Court of Appeal

Judge:

The Honourable Justice Hamilton

Appeal Heard:

November 23, 2016, in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Subject:

Family Law; Child Support for Child over the Age of Majority attending University.

Summary:

The father applied to vary child support. In the outstanding order, the support payable by the father was paid on the basis the oldest of the four children was no longer a dependent child of the marriage and the payments were made directly to the child. Following the variation hearing, the judge ordered the father to pay support for her in accordance with the Nova Scotia table, pursuant to s. 3(2) of the Guidelines. 

Issues:

Did the judge err in (1) granting Orders that differed materially from her oral decision, (2) finding there was a change of circumstances permitting a variation of support with respect to the oldest child because her personal circumstances had not changed or (3) ordering him to pay child support for her in accordance with the table pursuant to s. 3(2)(a) of the Guidelines when his application did not seek to change her support or, in the alternative, because she did not give sufficient deference to the manner in which child support was to be paid for the child pursuant to the outstanding order which was a consent order.

Result:

Appeal allowed in part. The judge did not err as principally argued by the father. There was a change of circumstance. There was no error in the judge changing her decision prior to issuing the Variation Order. The judge did not err by not deferring to the method of support provided for in the outstanding order. The father’s application was broad enough to allow the judge to order child support for the oldest child in accordance with the table pursuant to s. 3(2) of the Guidelines and the judge made it clear during the hearing that this was a live issue. There was, however, an error in the Variation Order as it related to the support the father was to pay for the oldest child for the months of September 2014 to April 2015 that was corrected.