Family Law: Retroactive Child Support
Brown v. Kucher, 2016 BCCA 456 (37191)
Ms. Kucher, the Applicant, and Mr. Brown, the Respondent, had a relationship for less than a year, which Mr. Brown terminated when Ms. Kucher told him she was pregnant. His response was he did not want the responsibility of a child at that time. He already had two daughters and Ms. Kucher had three sons. There was no further direct contact between the parties until the application for child support was made in 2013 some 16 years later. The Provincial Court order awarded retroactive child support to Ms. Kucher in the amount of $70,320, being the sum of child support the trial judge calculated would have been payable between 1995 and 2013 under the Federal Child Support Guidelines in respect of the parties’ child, “C.K.” C.K. was almost 19 years old at the time of trial. Fisher J. set aside the retroactive child support order and ordered retroactive child support to no more than three years prior to October 23, 2013 (the date of both formal and effective notice) in accordance with the Federal Child Support Guidelines; prospective support at $479 per month was ordered and the payment of education expenses. Costs were awarded to the Respondent. The B.C.C.A. dismissed the child support appeal from the decision of Fisher J., and dismissed the application for a stay of the costs awards. “The motion for a stay of execution of costs is dismissed. The application for leave to appeal…is dismissed without costs.”
Retroactive Child Support
