Zahra Khedri

The respondent father sought to retroactively change a child support order and rescind a costs order, arguing a material change in circumstances due to job loss.

The applicant mother opposed, asserting the father was intentionally underemployed due to his own fault and unrealistic job search efforts.

The court found the father was dismissed due to his own fault and was intentionally unemployed without reasonable excuse, rejecting his request for retroactive reduction of support prior to November 1, 2020.

The court imputed income to the father at his previous level until October 2020, and then at a reduced amount ($22,000 annually) from November 1, 2020, onwards, based on his capacity for minimum-wage part-time work given the pandemic and his work history.

The father's requests to rescind the costs order and suspend enforcement were dismissed due to his blameworthy conduct and the hardship it would cause the mother and children.

Motion to change a 2006 custody order whereby the mother seeks child support for a seven-year-old child with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

The father was not required to pay child support under the original order.

Both parents were receiving social assistance.

The court determined that income should be imputed to the father in the amount of $40,000 per year based on his demonstrated skills in the construction trades and his historical earning capacity, despite his claims of unemployment.

The court ordered the father to pay $360 per month in child support commencing February 1, 2012, with arrears of $6,120 to be paid at $200 per month.

The mother's claim for section 7 special or extraordinary expenses was dismissed without prejudice, as the father lacked the financial capacity to contribute to such expenses despite their necessity for the child's best interests.