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==Undue hardship==
Under section 10 of the Child Support Guidelines, the court can make an award of child support that is different (, usually less) , than would be required by the Guidelines tables where a person would suffer ''undue hardship'' if the Guidelines table amount of child support were paid.
Section 10 of the Guidelines provides a non-exhaustive list of circumstances that may cause undue hardship:
<blockquote><tt>(1) On either spouse's application, a court may award an amount of child support that is different from the amount determined under any of sections 3 to 5, 8 or 9 if the court finds that the spouse making the request, or a child in respect of whom the request is made, would otherwise suffer undue hardship.</tt></blockquote>
Note that this list is not exhaustive, meaning that the court may take other factors, in addition to those in the list, into <span class="noglossary">account</span> in deciding applications under section 10. The test to prove that an order under the Guidelines would cause undue hardship involves two steps:
#under Under section 10(3), the court must find that the household standard of living of the parent claiming undue hardship, calculated using the formulas described in Schedule II of the Guidelines, is lower than that of the other parent, and .#Then, the court must find that an award under the Guidelines tables would in fact cause undue hardship to the payor or the recipient under section 10(1).
If you cannot prove a lower household standard of living under step 1 abovethe first part of the test, do not don't bother going trying to step 2 because prove undue hardship under the second part of the test as your hardship claim has already been lost.
If both these steps have been met, however, the court will then determine decide what a reasonable child support order would be in light of the children's needs and the means of the parents. Note that the standards of living being compared are the standards of the two households. This includes all sources of income a household has, including income from the parents' new partners, if any.
== Other Arrangements for the Children's Direct or Indirect Benefit ==