Impact of child support on spousal support

• Author: Julien D. Payne; Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 375-380

375

CHAPTER 8

IMPACT OF CHILD SUPPORT

ONSPOUSALSUPPORT

A. PRIORITY OF CHILD SUPPORT OVER SPOUSAL SUPPORT;

EFFECTOF CHILD SUPPORT ORDER ON ASSESSMENT OF

SPOUSALSUPPORT

Section . of the Divorce Act provides as follows:

Priority to child s upport

. () Where a court is considering an applic ation for a child support order and an appli-

cation for a spousal support order, the court sh all give priorit y to child support in deter-

mining t he applications.

Reasons

() Where, as a result of givi ng priority to child support, the cour t is unable to make a

spousal support order or the cou rt makes a spousal support order in an a mount that is less

than it otherw ise would have been, the court shall record its rea sons for having done so.

Consequences of re duction or termination of child support orde r

() Where, as a result of giving prior ity to child support, a spousal support order w as

not made, or the amount of a spousal suppor t order is less than it other wise would have

been, any subsequent reduction or term ination of that child support const itutes a change of

circumsta nces for the purposes of applying for a spousa l support order, or a variation order

in respect of the spous al support order, as the case may be.

Section . of the Divorce Act addresses the situat ion where the applicat ion for child

support and the application for spousal support involve members of the same family. It does

not establis h priorities as bet ween sequential fa milies. For example, a former divorced wife’s

order for spousal support will not be subject to a statutor y priority in favour of the obligor’s

 Maka v Maka,  ONSC .

 Hilborn v Hilborn, [] OJ No  (SCJ).