IN THE FAMILY COURT OF NOVA SCOTIA
Citation: C.A.L. v. P.M.L., 2009 NSFC 20
Date: 20090831
Docket: 08Y061548
Registry: Yarmouth
Between:
C.A.L.
Applicant
v.
P.M.L.
Respondent
LIBRARY HEADER
Judge: The Honourable John D. COMEAU
Chief Judge of the Family Court of Nova Scotia
Heard: Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, August 5, 2009
Written Decision: August 31, 2009
Issue: Child and spousal support. Determination of income. Self-employed
earnings.
Summary: The respondent is a self-employed fisherman who is the sole shareholder
of a limited company set up to run his business of fishing. He also set up
a family trust as a form of tax planning. The parties separated after a
fifteen year marriage and each one has custody of one of the two children
of the marriage. The Applicant request child and spousal support. The
parties entered into an interim consent order in December of 2008 for
the payment of child and spousal support. There are arrears with
respect to this order, the amount of which is disputed. The Respondent
supplied both corporate and personal income and expenses. Valuation
of assets, some which have been amortized ( depreciated) have been
considered.
Result: The Court imputes the respondent’s income at $75,000 per annum and
discussed the prospective notice of determinations of annual income.
The Court considered Wilcox v. Snow, 1999 NSCA 163 which dealt with
how to determine self-employed income. The applicant’s income was
found to be $12,000 per annum. Child support was determined based on a \ shared parenting scenario and set off income as outlined in Contino v.
Contino, 2005 S.C.C. 63. The applicant was entitled to spousal support
(economic dependency) and it was determined by using the spousal
support advisory guidelines. The set off amount of $583 a month was
ordered for child support and spousal support of $737 both payable to
the applicant
. THIS INFORMATION SHEET DOES NOT FORM PART OF THE COURT'S DECISION. QUOTES MUST BE FROM THE DECISION, NOT THIS LIBRARY SHEET.