(FAMILY DIVISION)
Citation: Lemire v. Bourque, 2010 NSSC 192
Date: 20100518
Docket: 1201-060544
Registry: Halifax
Between:
Christopher Thomas Lemire
Applicant/Petitioner
v.
Stephanie Nicole Bourque
Respondent
Judge: The Honourable Justice Moira C. Legere Sers
Heard: March 23, 2010
April 27, 2010
Counsel: Christopher Thomas Lemire, self-represented
Stephanie Nicole Bourque, not appearing
By the Court:
[1] The applicant made a provisional variation application on December 7, 2009 pursuant to Section 17 of the Divorce Act. He is seeking to vary the terms of the Corollary Relief Judgment entered into with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on May 18, 2006.
[2] The affidavit of the applicant discloses that the parties were married on October 2, 1993, separated May 5, 2002 and divorced by order dated June 18, 2005. The father and children continued to live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
[3] The Corollary Relief Judgment determined that the respondent, Stephanie Bourque, had an annual income of $15,888.00 and the petitioner, Christopher Lemire, had an annual income of $29,164.80 for the purposes of determining the table amount of child support.
[4] There are two children of the marriage: Eleri Bourque‑Lemire, born November 29, 1994 and Aiden Bourque‑Lemire, born May 4, 1997. Primary care of the children rests with the father. The mother was ordered to pay child support in the amount of $100.00 per month payable commencing November 15, 2005 and continuing thereafter.
[5] The parties were to provide each other with a copy of their income tax return, complete with all attachments, even if the return was not filed, along with all notices of assessment received from Revenue Canada, on an annual basis on or before June 30th of each year.
[6] All other matters relating to child support were to remain as ordered in the November 10, 2005 order including but not limited to paragraph 8 thereof.
[7] According to the evidence provided, the respondent did not live up to her obligations to pay support or contribute toward medical expenses and did not provide the requisite financial disclosure on an annual basis.
[8] The mother paid $100.00 per month on an inconsistent basis. The matter did not go through Maintenance Enforcement. This lack of payment went on until the mother moved to Calgary in October 2006. The inconsistent payments continued even when, according to the father's evidence, he was informed by the mother that she was working full time.
[9] The father has separated and moved into a new home in Halifax and is requiring support from the mother as his financial circumstances have changed.
[10] The father testified there was an informal agreement in 2007 that the mother would pay him $300.00 per month instead of going through the court and he would take over the lease on her car. He indicates she accepted that offer; however, her compliance lasted a little over a year bringing them to mid‑2008 when she began to make only partial payments.
[11] This partial payment went on intermittently for a year or so up until December 2009 when the mother stopped paying entirely.
[12] The father believes the mother is living in Quebec with her common‑law husband and their two new children.
[13] The mother has seen these children only twice in the last three years although the father has provided her with every opportunity to do so. He has filed two affidavits, one handwritten and the other a supplementary typed affidavit. These affidavits speak to the efforts the father has made to keep the children in contact with their mother and the lack of response from the mother.
[14] The father is asking for financial support of the table amount for both children and a contribution toward the current extraordinary expenses by way of orthodontic payments. His line 150 income for 2009 is $43,585.00, his 2008 income was $47,481.00; his 2007 income was $42,577.00 and his 2006 income was $42,846.00.
[15] The father has verified orthodontic fees of $5,800.00. He is required, after insurance, to pay twenty (20) payments of $199.00 each.
[16] The applicant's testified that the respondent moved to Calgary in October of 2006 and was working full time at a pharmacy.
[17] The respondent has failed to provide any financial information or respond to the applicant's requests for assistance. He estimates if she works at the same job, she would earn approximately $14.00 per hour. He is unaware of the amount of hours she would be capable of working in order to gain an income. If she works 35 hours per week at $14.00 per hour that would yield $25,460.00 annual income, for a monthly payment of $378.00.
[18] The respondent has not assisted in any way by providing her financial information or by responding to any requests for consistent payment. She has not participated in access thus increasing the costs associated with being the sole parent.
[19] Upon a provisional basis, I order the respondent to pay $378.00 per month, commencing January 1, 2010 forward until further order of the court or agreement of the parties. The payments shall be made through Maintenance Enforcement to the direction of the applicant.
[20] The respondent shall pay one-half the monthly orthodontic expense commencing January 1, 2010 and continuing thereafter for a period of twenty (20) months, that is $99.50 each month from January 1, 2010 to and including August 1, 2011, until the expense is paid in full.
[21] The respondent shall file with the confirming court and the applicant by June 30, 2010 a full and complete copy of the last three years income tax returns together with copies of all income slips, schedules etc verifying income from all sources, notices of assessments and reassessment if any. She shall also provide verification from source of his 2010 year to date income.
[22] The parties shall exchange their income tax return and appropriate financial disclosure in accordance with the Guidelines. The respondent shall provide full and complete financial disclosure by providing a complete copy of her income tax returns, whether filed with Revenue Canada or not, along with a copy of any notice of assessment or reassessment by June 1st of each year.
[23] All child support payments shall be made payable to the Maintenance Enforcement Program. Payments shall be forwarded to the office of the Director of Maintenance Enforcement, P.O. Box 803, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 2V2.
Legere Sers, J.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
May 18, 2010