Lawyer cost for applying child support variation.

[Xtrema]

Can someone that has gone through child support variation proceeding tell me how much does lawyers charges for this typically?

Buddy has fell on hard times and child support is based on his income in the boom times and his ex won't back down even after he has declared bankruptcy.

Before I offer limited financial help to him, I would like to know how much something like this will potentially cost and if it can be dragged out and prolonged like divorce proceedings. If his ex decided to fight it, it can be drawn out for years like their divorce case and she got the finance backing to make it never ending (and she will) and it's not a fight I'm interested in help fund.

If someone has gone thru this, you can reply here or pm me in private.

Thanks.

[gwill]

my brothers going through this right now. Its pretty easy to use a current pay stub vs historical income. He made way more back in the day then he does now...

Cant say exactly what its called but hes pretty stupif and figured this stuff out.

Perhaps your friend should start with one of the many free lawyer services that volunteer their time.

[rage2]

If it goes to court you need to use income tax to determine your payments. Pay stubs won't work, too easy to hide income (i.e. Contractor, multiple jobs and stubs etc). You don't need a lawyer to do this. Most people just file an application and it'll go before the courts and you represent yourself. You can get away with family court with zero legal skills. Judges are really good at guiding you along because many people can't afford lawyers in these situations.

So the problem is, if he was still making good money last year, he has to wait until this years taxes are done before he can apply to have his payments reduced. You can try and file an application for undue hardship but chances of that working because you lost your job and not having enough savings isn't necessarily a good excuse.

Alternatively, you can register for the child support recalculation program which will allow you to recalculate yearly. Again, remember the lag between income changes and tax filing date. It'll suck when income goes down, and a bit of financial room if it goes up. https://www.justice.alberta.ca/progr...s/default.aspx

If he has the time, go sit in court for a day. It's open to the public and you can see the ridiculousness that goes on and how the judge handles and guides people there.

At the end of the day, don't be a deadbeat dad. In our case, we haven't received any payments for years, court mandated him to file his taxes which he hasn't done for something like 7 years so there's zero income info (contractor), and he stopped communicating completely to both us and he courts even though he sees his kid regularly. Now he lost his passport, registry services suspended, lost drivers license and got busted driving without license because of maintenance enforcement program. Drop offs in a cab. Good times. I don't even want to know how big of a hole you can dig by not filing taxes as a contractor for that long.

Anyways that's the worst case scenario. It's pretty difficult to get there, thought it'd be worth a share.

[Buster]

I live a sheltered life.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by rage2
If he has the time, go sit in court for a day. It's open to the public and you can see the ridiculousness that goes on and how the judge handles and guides people there.

At the end of the day, don't be a deadbeat dad. In our case, we haven't received any payments for years, court mandated him to file his taxes

Thanks Rage. Great advice there.

He's not a dead beat, he's been paying and he's only hoping to have it reduced by 1/3 to help him get by the upcoming lean months.

[roopi]

Originally posted by rage2
I don't even want to know how big of a hole you can dig by not filing taxes as a contractor for that long.

I have a friend who is a contractor and hasn't filed in 3-4 years. He just prepays about 50-75k a year and they haven't sent him one letter. CRA probably owes him money and he's loaning it for free like an idiot. I'm sure it will catch up with him. His idea of investing is putting his money in a high interest savings account.

[P_D]

Dealing with child support is super easy. Just have your buddy go down to the court house and fill out the appropriate forms. Then have him serve the mother 20 days before the court appearance. As long as hes not a contractor he should have any issues with using his past history and current income to have the amount changed. If he is a salaried employee have him get a letter from HR stating his reduced income.

[rage2]

Originally posted by P_D
Dealing with child support is super easy. Just have your buddy go down to the court house and fill out the appropriate forms. Then have him serve the mother 20 days before the court appearance. As long as hes not a contractor he should have any issues with using his past history and current income to have the amount changed. If he is a salaried employee have him get a letter from HR stating his reduced income.

From what I've seen, judges always ask for tax info, as does the recalculation program. Like I mentioned, a letter stating reduced income from HR doesn't do anything, as you can easily pick up a different job and the courts would have zero visibility into actual income.

Of course, the easiest way is to work this out with the mom and avoid the courts, but from the OP's post that doesn't seems to be happening.