When a couple has children they are often the primary focus in their lives. This is true not only when they are together, but if they split as well. Accordingly, matters such as child custody and support are usually of utmost importance.
Just how much someone in Ontario will pay in child support depends on a variety of factors. The province is creating an online administrative model that helps parents both establish as well as calculate child support without having to go to court. The model, which is the result of a collaboration of the Ministry of Finance, Service Ontario and the Family Responsibility Office, has been in the works since 2013.
There are multiple benefits to this approach. It obviously makes what is potentially a contentious issue easier to address. It also likely saves those involved money since it is expensive to prepare to go to trial. It is also financially beneficial to the court system since the number of child support-related appearances that are actually scheduled take up much less of the court’s time.
While other provinces in the nation have had similar systems in place for several years, the creation of the new process launches Ontario ahead of other provinces where child support calculation is concerned. Though the new system was created after a lot of input from other provinces none of them remove the court element. As a result, they will ultimately be watching to see how Ontario’s new online model works.
While this new system could, in some situations remove the courtroom element, this does not mean that one should forego finding a knowledgeable, reliable lawyer. There are many things he or she may be of assistance with where child support matters are concerned.