Discussions

Just wanting some advice on filing for child support. My ex and I have been separated for a year now. I get our 3 year old son during the week and his dad gets him Friday and Saturday. Right now he only give me money when he feels like it. Do I need to get a lawyer to get the process started? or are there forms online I can fill out and send in. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/family/mep/pubs/mep_facts1.pdf  
 
You need some kind of agreement, so it depends on you and your ex how it will go. If there's not a lot of conflict, you should both sign up for "For the Sake of the Children" and contact Mediation to get on their waiting list- you can do it all for free through them if you get along well enough. If you have a lot of conflict or any history of violence etc., this isn't suitable and you probably need a lawyer. Look online for the manitoba legal education centre, they can give you a bit of advice.

Mediation does not deal with the financial aspects. My advice is to contact a lawyer. You can look up the Manitoba Child Support table amount online though to give you an idea of what he should be paying...if you know his income. Given that he does have him approx a week a month, the ordered amount might be slightly less. There are other things to also consider in a child support order like childcare costs, health insurance, sports and activities, etc.  
 
Edited by Tamara79, 2016-01-08 18:06:38

What if one spouse makes $50000 a year and the other makes $20000? A 50-50 split really wouldn't be fair in that case. Go for the lawyer and get an agreement with the Maintenance Enforcement clause in it - everything out in the open and no bickering required.

This is not the whole story for you readers out there, just to clarify. And I'm sorry that people feel the need to bring there personal lives to the attention of others instead of just asking for advice.

"Seemingly"-  
 
I think it was just asking for some advice, I'm not seeing a lot of personal storytelling here and this is an anonymous forum as far as I'm aware... Of course there is no "whole story" here, what's the story? Someone's been seperated for a year and hasn't filed a seperation agreement with MEP yet, that seems pretty straightforward and if it isn't, well, I don't see anyone naming names or anything...?

So Im curious if anyone knows if there is an actual government of mb website that shows what a person should be paying in child support. Is it just based on your incomes or are there other factors? Child care expenses, extra activities, time spent with both parents, etc.  
Im just looking for info just to make sure I'm well informed.  
 
Edited by tootrusting, 2016-01-12 16:10:40

How does one go about getting sole custody? Like what is the first step? A lawyer I'm assuming, anyone recommend a lawyer with high number of won cases?

I am currently going through the process for sole custody, what I did was went down to legal aid and applied for a lawyer and they appointed me to one. It is all based off your income of how much you pay for your lawyer. They will bring up court papers and the other person will be "served" with the papers and has 20 days to reply to the courts. And it goes from there. Karen Webb who is from Burgess Law Office.

tootrusting said "So Im curious if anyone knows if there is an actual government of mb website that shows what a person should be paying in child support. Is it just based on your incomes or are there other factors? Child care expenses, extra activities, time spent with both parents, etc.   Im just looking for info just to make sure I'm well informed.     Edited by tootrusting, 2016-01-12 16:10:40"

As I said above, just google Manitoba Child Support Table Amounts and you will find it. There are also calculators where you can just fill out the payee's annual income, but you can also find the most recent table year the government base it on. Again, as I said above they can take into account all those factors if requested by either parent.

Child Support Tables are on the Government of Canada Website at:  
 
http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/fl-df/child-enfant/look-rech.asp