L. Section 7 Expenses

• Author: Julien D. Payne - Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 355-355

Page 355

The undue hardship provisions of section 10 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines would appear to be inapplicable to claims for special or extraordinary expenses under section 7 of the Guidelines. Although section 10 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines empowers a court to deviate from the amount of child support determined under any of sections 3 to 5, 8, or 9 of the Guidelines on the basis of undue hardship, and section 3(1)(b) of the Guidelines specifically incorporates a reference to section 7 of the Guidelines, it would be illogical to apply section 10 of the Guidelines to applications for special or extraordinary expenses, given that section 7(1) of the Guidelines requires the court to have regard to the "reasonableness of the expenses in relation to the means of the spouses" in determining what, if any, parental contribution to such expenses should be ordered. The test of "reasonableness" under section 7 of the Guidelines is not nearly as stringent as the requirements respecting undue hardship that are imposed by section 10 of the Guidelines. Consequently, a failure to establish undue hardship in a claim for the applicable table amount of child support does not preclude...