Spousal Support: You Can Run But Not Hide

Deadbeat ex-spouses and parents are loathsome.  Support amounts are supposed to be based on the income of the payor.  Payors are supposed to disclose their income every year, and adjust support based on that.  Many don’t.  This leaves the recipient ex-spouse (usually wife) or mother with less that they should be getting.  Most support recipients can’t afford to go to court over what may be a few hundred dollars per month.  So deadbeats get away with cheating their ex-spouses and their children.

Even when the recipient does go to court, the deadbeats routinely got a discount from the amount due.  In effect, the court was abetting the deadbeats.

In Legge v. Legge: https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/ca/21/03/2021BCCA0365.htm, our Court of Appeal gave a definitive “NOPE” to deadbeats.

The parties separated in 2010.  The wife claimed support, but didn’t pursue that until trial in 2020.  Part of the time after separation, she was on Welfare.  Legal Aid could not / would not help her.  The husband’s income averaged $112K/yr.  The trial judge followed many cases saying delay is fatal to obtaining spousal support.  He held it would be contrary to “the interests of justice” to order the husband to pay any support.  Even a dime. On appeal, the court held that the wife’s lack of financial and legal resources should not allow the husband to evade his responsibility  They ordered him to pay $27K as spousal support arrears. He will also have to pay court costs – I estimate about $25K.

Penticton lawyer Angela Svetlichny won this case for the wife. 

A win for justice, and a clear legal message to deadbeats: pay your support.