MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT - Child support - Financial disclosure - Ability to pay - Order - Interim

Law360 Canada ( July 5, 2021, 9:38 AM EDT) -- Appeal by the husband from an interim order for child and spousal support, an order to pay $150,000 as an interim distribution of family property and ordering him to make broad financial disclosure. The parties separated in 2018. They had three children who resided primarily with the wife since separation. The husband was, directly or indirectly, the sole, majority or a major shareholder in 15 companies. His interests were held through a complex structure which included holding companies, family trusts, and payments between these entities of rent, management fees and dividends. The parties disputed whether the husband’s corporate interests were divisible family property. He argued his interests in the companies were not divisible family property and were improperly considered in the order for an interim distribution. He also argued the chambers judge improperly took pre-tax corporate income into account in the calculation of his income for support purposes. He argued that the attribution of corporate income to him would put the corporations at risk, encroach on their capital, and interfere with the rights of third-party shareholders. The chambers judge ordered that the husband pay child support of $16,630 per month based on an income of $1,023,749. He ordered interim spousal support of $17,000 per month. The chambers judge observed the wife’s asserted expenses were inflated and unreasonable but did not explain how he arrived at that number. The chambers judge ordered the husband to produce all bank account statements for any private corporation in which he had an interest, and all credit card statements for all credit cards held by any of his private corporation. He argued he should not be obliged to disclose records relating to the companies, other than those required for income determination purposes, as the companies might be excluded from family property by the parties’ Interspousal Agreement....
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