James N. Eastwood

The applicant husband brought a motion to change seeking to terminate his spousal support obligation following his involuntary termination and subsequent retirement.

The respondent wife sought a modest reduction but argued support should continue, suggesting the husband draw on his RRSP capital.

The court found a material change in circumstances and imputed $20,000 in RRSP income to the wife to match the husband's necessary withdrawals, preventing an inequitable depletion of his assets.

Finding the parties had roughly equal assets and the wife had sufficient income capacity, the court terminated spousal support effective December 31, 2017, and ordered the wife to repay $14,355 in overpaid support.

The applicant brought a motion to change a final order for spousal support following his retirement from the Ontario Provincial Police.

The court found that the applicant's retirement constituted a material change in circumstances that was not foreseen in the original order.

Applying the rule against double dipping, the court limited the applicant's income for support purposes to the non-equalized portion of his pension.

The court also imputed income to the respondent based on her ability to generate income from equalized assets.

Spousal support was reduced to $1,050 per month and a fixed termination date was set for October 31, 2021.