As of January 1, 2012, the Child Support tables have changed.  To determine if you should be paying or receiving a different support amount, you may want to consult the Department of Justice website.  New tables are not yet available but this site lets you look up the table amount for your province based, as always, on the payor’s income and the number of dependent children.  To change a written agreement or a court order to comply with the new amount, we recommend you consult a lawyer as the change may not apply automatically.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Canada released two decisions on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 regarding spousal support variations.  Briefly, if you want to be able to vary spousal support at a future date, you need to have a complete picture of your financial circumstances at the time spousal support is originally set (or reset, if there’s more than one variation).  And you have to ensure the wording of your agreement contemplates the possibility of varying support.  Critically, the court must be able to find there has been a “material” change in circumstances since the date of the last order; a change that, if known at the time the original agreement or order was made, would likely have resulted in different terms.  A “material” change is one that you did not or could not anticipate when the spousal support agreement was first made.  See L.M.P. v. L.S., 2011 SCC 64 and R.P. v. R.C., 2011 SCC 65 on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision site.