Background: A good friend of mine is getting grief from her ex about payments. So, she’s trying to get some data on what is “standard” (her argument being he pays less than he should, so he should stop complaining).
However, she is having a little problem finding any hard data.
The Question: Does anyone know where at least some basic payment data for child support payments can be found? Ideally this would be for Canada.
Can anyone help? I have no clue myself, never been married let alone divorced.
In Canada child support is determined by a government devised scale based on how many children and how much income the non custodial parent earns. The amounts are the same for every person in that category so there should be no arguments. Just google “child support payment table” and you should find the chart.
thanks deevee! Gave her that info. Turns out she had that already though. So seems she wanted to know what the average man pays in total.
So MODIFIED question.
Does anyone know what the average total payment is for a divorced man? Including child support and alimony? Both of them are relatively well off financially (upper middle income which Im told has some bearing on the question).
I understand that there are some pretty extreme cases, but she’s trying to get what a rough ‘average’ amount would be. Anywhere where that info could be found? Or should I try for a poll in IMHO?
If she wants this information for puposes of using it to petition the court for more support, she is likely barking up the wrong tree. “Average” is a meaningless statistic, as it takes into account homeless drunks as well as Donald Trump and numerous NBA stars.
Child support and alimony are (at least in most states) determined by a formula that takes into account relative incomes and the percentage of time the children live with each parent. Other factors don’t enter into it. The big nasty divorce cases usually involve a non-working spouse who has an expectation of a standard of living, and the big arguments are about what ammount of savings/investments/property are considered “community”.
When my wife an I divorced, we had relatively equal incomes, and because the children spend 50% of the time with each parent, there is no alimony and almost no child support.
Sounds like the first question she should ask is what is the average payment for men in the same category as this guy. An overall average of everyone lumped together wouldn’t say much.
Shouldn’t it be about the children rather than keeping up with the Joneses? If they are both well to do then they need to reassess their priorities. Hostility over money does more harm to the children than the lack thereof. (sorry for the editorial but Canadian laws were changed to prevent this kind of crap)
deevee, was this the phrase you were referencing re: keeping up with the Joneses?
I am not an attorney (nor am I Lamar Mundane) but I think part of what he was saying was that a wife who had been a full-time stay at home mom while the couple was married might expect to continue as a full-time stay at home mom after the divorce. Obviously that could (and surely is) be debated endlessly. But there is a certain logic to the thought that if the same 2 parents decided that was best for the kids while they were married, and that they could afford it, why should the divorce change that? You can think of that as a “standard of living” for the spouse or as a child care arrangement that is best for the children.
On a related topic, if the family while they were together thought that the kids were best raised in a big house in the suburbs, and that they could afford to do that, if the mother retains custody she may well have the expectation that she will continue to live in that house/type of neighborhood.
I just meant that one side wanting more because everyone else gets more, or another side wanting to pay less because everyone else is paying less is the wrong way of looking at things. The needs of one’s own children are independant of what the Joneses pay or receive in support, and Canadian legislation was enacted to prevent this type of bickering.
Sorry, I should be more clear. Specifically she is interested in information for men in a similar financial/social situation. He’s single and earning high 5 figures. Aside from the two kids, has no dependents and no real debt load.
She is also NOT looking for more money (heck, I know she agreed to a reduction recently. As far as I can tell, she already gets far less than she could, again, I have no personal/practical knowledge about such matters).
She just wants to have some factual info for the next time he starts whining about how much he pays. Basically something she can go “Look at this, you are not paying all that much compared to others in your situation.”
I have asked those I know with personal experience in divorce what they think about how much he pays, and they all consider the amount to be low (and in several cases TOO low, but I think those particular women still hold grudges against their exes so I take it with a grain of salt ).
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