1. Legal Age In Canada For Consent
2. Legal Age In Canada
3. Legal Age In Canada To Get Married
4. Legal Age In Canada Consent

Part 2: Child Support (continued)

Child support for children at or over the age of majority

Did You Know?

In Beckham's home state of Texas, the age of consent is 17 and violators can face prison terms of up to 10–20 years. In Canada, sexual activity with children as young as 16 is legal (was 14 until and prior to May 2008) as long as it was consensual and the adult is not in a position of authority or dependency. Stuart has legal status in Canada and has lived in Canada for more than 10 years since the age of 18. Sonia determines that Stuart may be eligible for the Allowance. She reminds Stuart that once he is in receipt of the Allowance, if he or Maggie leave Canada for more than six months, his Allowance payment and her Guaranteed Income Supplement.

The laws that allow parents and judges to determine child support for children at or over the age of majority apply in most provinces and territories to intact families. Parents who are not separated or divorced may have a legal obligation to support their older children.

Federal, provincial and territorial laws allow judges to consider all of a family's circumstances when deciding on child support for older children. This goes some way to overcoming thedisadvantage that research shows children of separated or divorced parents have when it comes to paying for post-secondary education.

The age of majority is 18 in six provinces: Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.

The age of majority is 19 in four provinces and the three territories: British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Yukon.

The federal government and several provincial and territorial governments continue to support the position that judges and parents may set child support amounts for children who are at or over the age of majority on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, this document does not deal with the issue of older children's eligibility for child support. Other issues concerning to whom the payments should be made, and how the amount is determined, are addressed below.

Child Support Paid Directly to Children

The guidelines recognize that older children who are still dependent on their parents may have child support needs that are different from those of younger children. Older children may have part-time jobs or live away from home while going to school.

Some parents and other people have questioned whether the paying parent should have to continue to pay the child support for older children to the receiving parent (who provides a home for the children), or be able to pay it directly to the children.

Some paying parents say that they would be satisfied that the child support is being spent on the children if it were paid directly to those children. They say that this might also help ease tension between the parents.

Receiving parents point out that they continue to have costs, such as maintaining the home, to support their older children even when those children are away at school for part of the year. Receiving parents are concerned that they may not be compensated for their costs when the child support is paid directly to the children.

Here are a few additional points to consider when answering the questions below:

• Who will enforce a child support order when the support is paid directly to the children?
• Do the children have the experience or ability to manage large amounts of money?
• What impact does receiving child support have on the children's eligibility for student loans?

Questions

Should the child support guidelines allow paying parents to pay child support directly to children at or over the age of majority?

• Yes
• No

Why?

What factors should judges consider when deciding whether the paying parent should pay support directly to children?

Should the children be able to choose whether to receive support directly from the paying parent or not?

• Yes
• No

Why?

Is it important for the receiving parent to agree that the paying parent will pay support directly to the children?

• Yes
• No

Why?

Disclosure of Information

As children grow up and begin to make their way in the world, they become less dependent on their parents. During those transition years, it can be difficult to tell, however, where parental support leaves off and independence begins, and certainly each child’s situation is unique.

Given this, many people suggest that receiving parents and older children should have to show that there is an ongoing need for child support to continue. This could be done by allowing the paying parent to ask once a year for information such as school records, lease agreements or other financial documents related to the children. This requirement would apply in all cases when support is to be paid for children at or over the age of majority, not just in those cases that include special expenses. Special expenses are those expenses, such as tuition for post-secondary education, that are beyond what is covered by the child support table amount. Under the guidelines, there is a section that requires parents to produce records to justify all special expenses. However, this provision does not extend to producing information about other expenses that the parents may have, related to the table amount or another amount paid for older children.

Many parents want proof that their older children are in school and, therefore, still entitled to the child support they are paying.

Other parents believe that the current rules and methods for disclosure are sufficient, and that additional requirements would be intrusive. Some parents think that involving children in their parents’ dispute may have negative effects on the children.

An additional point to consider when answering the questions below is that, when support is paid directly to children, it is the children who may have to disclose financial and other information, not their parents. Children have not traditionally been a part of legal proceedings and, historically, courts have been reluctant to directly involve children of any age in their parents’ proceedings.

Questions

Legal Age In Canada For Consent

Do you think the child support guidelines should be changed so that either the receiving parent or the children at or over the age of majority must provide the paying parent with information about the status of the children (for example, about their schooling, living arrangements or employment situation) once a year? This would apply in all cases when support is to be paid for children at or over the age of majority, not just in those cases that include special expenses.

• Yes
• No

Why?

Please describe in your feedback booklet any other option for addressing this issue that you think would be effective and explain why it would work.

Do you think the child support guidelines should be changed so that either the receiving parent or the children at or over the age of majority must provide the paying parent with information about the children’s finances once a year? (This would apply in all cases when support is to be paid for children at or over the age of majority, not just in those that include special expenses.)

• Yes
• No

Why?

Please describe in your feedback booklet any other option for addressing this issue that you think would be effective and explain why it would work.

Since the introduction of the Divorce Act in 1968, the divorce laws in Canada have allowed parents and judges to determine child support for older children who are unable to provide for themselves because of illness, disability, or other reasons. In cases over the years, the courts have ruled that these other reasons include secondary and post-secondary studies.

Prior to the 1997 changes to the Divorce Act, judges were allowed to decide whether parents had to make child support payments for children 16 years of age or older. The amended legislation raised that threshold to the age of majority of the province or territory in which the children live (age 18 or 19; see box). Most provinces and territories have laws in place so parents and courts can determine child support for children at or over the age of majority when the parents are separating but not divorcing, or were never married.

Date modified:

The family law lawyers at Crossroads Law are often asked how old a child should be before he or she can be left at home alone.

In Canada, only three provinces establish a minimum age at which children can be left home alone.

The Child and Family Services Act, C.C.S.M. c. C80 in Manitoba outlines that a child is in need of protection where the child being under the age of 12 years, is left unattended and without reasonable provision being made for the supervision and safety of the child.

In New Brunswick, children under the age of 12 cannot be left unsupervised. The Family Services Act, 1983, c.16, s.1., states that the Minister will place a child under protective care if the child is left unattended for an unreasonable length of time and no reasonable provision for the care, supervision or control of the child is made.

Legal Age In Canada

The Child and Family Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter C.11 in Ontario states, “no person having charge of a child less than sixteen years of age shall leave the child without making provision for his or her supervision and care that is reasonable in the circumstances.”

In British Columbia, there is no legislated minimum age for leaving a child alone for a short period. However, according to a B.C. Supreme Court decision, children under the age of 10 should not be left unsupervised at home.

In B.R. v. K.K., 2015 BCSC 1658, the Appellant mother, B.R. has two children, A.K., an eight year old and Q.K., a four year old. B.R. is separated from the children’s father. B.R. left her four year old with a caregiver but she left her eight year old son home alone every weekday after school from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. until she came home from work. When a social worker became aware of A.K.’s after-school situation, she visited the home while B.R. was present. She informed B.R. that a child under the age of ten could not be left unsupervised and requested that B.R. agree to a “safety plan”. B.R. declined. The Director under the Child, Family, and Community Service Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c.46 then brought an application with respect to B.R.’s care of the Children and sought the following supervision order:

1. B.R. will ensure that A.K. and Q.K. will be under the care and supervision of a responsible adult at all times and not be left alone to care for themselves.
2. B.R. will allow the Director direct and private access to A.K. and Q.K., whether scheduled in advance or not, and at any time the Director deems necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of the children.
3. Failure to comply with the aforementioned terms of the Supervision Order must result in the removal of the children

The social worker gave evidence at the presentation hearing and testified that, in her opinion, “children who are eight years of age do not have the cognitive ability to be left unsupervised.” She also cited various risks, including accidental poisoning or fires which could arise “regardless of A.K.’s level of maturity.” She did not agree that some children eight or nine years’ of age would be capable of staying alone.

B.C. Provincial Court Judge Wright accepted that children under the age of 10 could not be safely left alone and concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that A.K. required protection. The Director was granted an interim supervision order for A.K. pending a protection hearing.

B.R. appealed the decision of the Provincial Court. She argued that the social worker should have completed an individual investigation and assessment of A.K. and his circumstances. Legislators made a deliberate decision not to set a minimum age at which children may be left alone. They wanted to leave it up to the discretion of the social workers who will “inquire into the level of maturity of the particular child...and...into provisions for remote monitoring and supervision of the child” for each individual case. The social worker frustrated the legislative intent by applying an arbitrary rule and concluding that A.K. was in need of protection solely based on his age and lack of after-school supervision.

Mr. Justice Punnett did not agree with B.R. and noted that B.R. refused to permit the social worker to speak with A.K. and kept her from undertaking the individual inquiry that B.R. now says should have been done.

Legal Age In Canada To Get Married

The B.C Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the decision of the Provincial Court.

Legal Age In Canada Consent

So, when can you leave your child at home alone? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer as there is no legislated minimum age at which a child can be left alone in British Columbia. However, as a result of this case, parents who have children under the age of 10 should reconsider leaving them unsupervised at home regardless of their level of maturity.

Contact Crossroads Law to learn more about this issue or to book a consultation.

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