Month: May 2020

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Resumption of in person meetings June 8, 2020

In light of the changes to Covid19 restrictions and the reduced risk to our clients, we will resume in person meetings when required. This provides us the opportunity to assist clients with Wills, Powers of Attorney, Notarization of documents.

In order to help maintain our client’s health and safety we will continue video and telephone contact/meetings when possible. We will implement and maintain the recommendations and guidelines of the government of Canada and of Nova Scotia. These recommendations include social distancing, regular cleaning/disinfecting and more. Information can be found at https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/COVID-19-Fact-Sheet-Business.pdf.

We look forward to working with you through these challenging times.

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Child and Spousal Support in a Covid World

Many parents pay Child Support or Spousal Support to an ex-spouse. Existing payments were calculated based on the paying person’s income for child support. Spousal Support if payable, was calculated on the respective incomes of both parties, the length of the relationship and other factors.

Common to both payments is the determination of the paying person’s income.

If you or someone you know has been laid off, or had a substantial change to income it may be impossible for you to continue to pay Child Support or Spousal Support at the same level. Depending on how long you anticipate being off work, or having reduced income, you may want to simply use savings to make up the gap, or you may want to look at changing/varying the current payment amounts.

If both the payor and receiver are in agreement to a temporary or extended change, it may be possible to do a consent order ensuring that Maintenance Enforcement adjusts the amounts due and does not take steps to enforce the payments. We would be happy to helps draft the required documents.

If both the payor and receiver are not in agreement, we would be happy to discuss options and provide advice.

As a starting point, the payor should notify the receiver of the loss or change in income immediately.