==The reduction Reducing and cancellation of cancelling arrears==

Payors may apply to court to have their arrears of child support cancelled or reduced. TechnicallyWhen arrears are ''cancelled'', this the debt is in some ways an application wiped out and the payor no longer owes money to retroactively vary the order or agreement payor for their past child support under which obligation and any obligation they may have to contribute to the cost of the children's special expenses and extraordinary expenses. When arrears accumulated rather than an independent order about are ''reduced'', there's still a debt owing to the arrearsrecipient but the amount of the debt has been reduced to a smaller amount.

If you have 've read the section in this chapter on [[Making Changes to Child Support]], you know that an application to ''cancel'' or ''reduce'' arrears is much the same kind of application as one an application to ''vary'' change a child support order where the ''[[Divorce Act]]'' is involved. It's Like applications to change a child support order, applications to reduce or cancel arrears are made pursuant to under section 17of the act.

The ''[[Divorce Act]]'' does not deal expressly with doesn't talk about arrearsspecifically. Applications to reduce or cancel arrears under this the act are simply applications to change, or ''variationvary'' applications, the original order, so that less money is owing or that no money is owing. The test the court will apply is similar to the test it applies for orders under the ''[[Family Law Act]]''. It is difficult to persuade the court to reduce or cancel arrears, as you will 'll see in the next section.

Unlike the ''Divorce Act'', the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' deals with the question of does talk about arrears directly. Section 174(1) of the act says this: