"My income is none of your business...."

Over the years, I have observed an interesting phenomenon in society: on the one hand, people are understandably concerned about their privacy but on the other, they are more than happy to expose themselves, and what they would otherwise describe as their “private lives” by leaving their social media accounts open for the public to view, and by allowing their cell phones to track and record their every move…but that might be a topic for another blog post.

In this post, I want to tackle the issue of privacy in the context of family law. Separated parents are often concerned about their privacy and in many instances, understandably so. For example, when they form subsequent relationships, they want those to remain shielded from the ex-spouses’ eyes and often, importantly, interference.

But what about privacy in the child support context? I have in the past heard parents who owe child support say that their income is none of the other parent's business. They are in fact incorrect, and our laws address this issue very specifically. The Child Support Guidelines, both federal and provincial, obligate both the Applicant for child support (the person requesting it) and the Respondent (the person who potentially owes it) to exchange fulsome income disclosure and to do so automatically, without being compelled (ordered) by the Court to do so.

When Family Court deals with child support, the privacy of either parent’s income information does not enter the equation. The Court requires very detailed information about both parent’s incomes - the Court needs such detailed information to be able to ensure that children's rights to child support are addressed and that parents share financial responsibility for their children, post-separation, in a meaningful way.

The same rules apply in cases where settlement is reached without the involvement of the Court. Why? Because here, the same information is required to achieve the same goal. Further, the parent who seeks the income disclosure is in a better bargaining position - in other words, the parent who resists providing such disclosure outside a court proceeding will be ordered to produce it once the Court is involved. For this reason, one might describe proper income disclosure for the purposes of child support as a forgone conclusion. In other words, one parent’s income is the other parent’s business.

©AJJakubowska