C. High Income Spouse or Former Spouse with Short Career

• Author: Julien D. Payne - Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 374-374

Page 374

Professional entertainers and athletes have attracted special problems where their income peaks at a very high level but is expected to decrease dramatically with the passage of time. Several American courts have produced a creative solution to this problem by establishing a trust to deal with future child support payments when the income declines.⁴²Although the flexibility exhibited by the American courts might be impossible to achieve in Canada under section 4(a) of the Federal Child Support Guidelines,⁴³a similar constraint may not apply to the combined application of section 4(b) of the Federal Child Support Guidelines and section 15.1(4) of the Divorce Act which empowers a court to make child support orders for a definite or indefinite period or until a specified event occurs and to impose such terms, conditions and restrictions on the order as the court thinks fit and just.⁴⁴

[42] See, for example, In re J.T. (K.D.), 16 Fam. L. Rep. (BNA) 1046 (N.Y. Fam. Ct. 1989); In re Paternity of Tukker M.O., 544 N.W.2d 417 (1996). See also In re Marriage of Stamberg, 218 Ill. App. 3d 333, 578 N.E.2d 261 (1991) (foreseeable loss of income due to pending criminal prosecution). And see, generally, Laura W. Morgan, Child Support Guidelines: Interpretation and Application, looseleaf (New York: Aspen Law & Business, 1996-) §4.07(b)[4], "The High-Income Parent with the Short Career."

[43] See Bachorick v. Verdejo, [1999] S.J. No. 450 (C.A.); compare Simon v. Simon...