“The leading case under s. 9 [of the Child Support Guidelines] is the seminal decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Contino v. Leonelli-Contino, 2005 SCC 63 (CanLII). The following principles emerge from that decision:
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- The first step is to determine whether the evidence establishes that the 40% threshold has been met;
- If it has, then the court must determine the appropriate amount of support based on a budget;
- The discretion to be exercised by the court requires consideration of the conditions and means of the parents and the needs of the children;
- The weight to be accorded each factor will vary according to the facts of each case;
- A pro-rated set-off of the amount each parent is required to pay according to the applicable Table is a starting point for analysis of the means and conditions of the parents;
- Further adjustments may be warranted to account for fixed and variable costs that each parent bears as part of his or her spending patterns;
- The court should consider the budgets and actual child care expenses of each parent as they relate to increased costs, if any, that arise under the shared care arrangements; and
- There is a broad discretion under s. 9(c) to conduct an analysis of the resources and needs of both parents and children. That analysis is necessarily contextualized to the particular facts of the case. Helpful factors include the actual spending patterns of the parents, the ability of each parent to bear the increased costs of shared care, and the standard of living of the children in each household.”
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