Difference between revisions of "How Do I Get Out of Paying Child Support?"

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Since child support is the right of the child, not the right of the parent, neither parent has the right or ability to bargain away child support in exchange for giving up, for example, the right to seek custody of or access to the child. Agreements like that are never upheld by the courts.
Since child support is the right of the child, not the right of the parent, neither parent has the right or ability to bargain away child support in exchange for giving up, for example, the right to seek custody of or access to the child. Agreements like that are never upheld by the courts.


The duty to pay child support stems from the simple fact that both parents contributed some of their genes to make a baby, and that's something you just can't get out of. It's a biological fact that has nothing to do with the ages of the parents, their marital status or whether both parents have maintained or want to maintain a relationship with the child.
The duty to pay child support stems from the simple fact that both parents contributed some of their genes to make a baby, and that's something you just can't get out of. It's a biological fact that has nothing to do with the ages of the parents, their marital status, or whether both parents have maintained or want to maintain a relationship with the child.


The only two ways to get out of an obligation to pay child support are to:
The only two ways to get out of an obligation to pay child support are to:
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The ''Divorce Act'' and the ''Family Law Act'' both say that stepparents can be required to pay child support.  
The ''Divorce Act'' and the ''Family Law Act'' both say that stepparents can be required to pay child support.  


Under the ''Divorce Act'', this means someone who married a parent. Under the ''Family Law Act'', this means the guardian of a child and and a person who was the married spouse or unmarried spouse of a parent and contributed to the support of the parent's child for at least one year.
Under the ''Divorce Act'', this means someone who married a parent.  
 
Under the ''Family Law Act'', this means the guardian of a child and a person who was the married spouse or unmarried spouse of a parent and contributed to the support of the parent's child for at least one year.


The nice thing about being a stepparent is that the other biological parent's obligation to pay child support can be taken into <span class="noglossary">account</span> when the amount of the stepparent's child support payments is being figured out, which usually means that support <span class="noglossary">will</span> be paid in an amount less than what the Child Support Guidelines require.
The nice thing about being a stepparent is that the other biological parent's obligation to pay child support can be taken into <span class="noglossary">account</span> when the amount of the stepparent's child support payments is being figured out, which usually means that support <span class="noglossary">will</span> be paid in an amount less than what the Child Support Guidelines require.


More information about who does and doesn't qualify as standing in the place of a parent is available in the pages on [[Child Support]].
More information about who does and doesn't qualify as standing in the place of a parent is available in the chapter [[Child Support]].


{{REVIEWED | reviewer = [[JP Boyd]], March 24, 2013}}
{{REVIEWED | reviewer = [[JP Boyd]], March 24, 2013}}
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[[Category:Avoiding an Obligation]]
[[Category:Avoiding an Obligation]]


{{Creative Commons
 
|title = JP Boyd on Family Law
{{Creative Commons for JP Boyd}}
|author = [[JP Boyd|John-Paul Boyd]] and Courthouse Libraries BC
}}
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