“In Rogers v. Rogers 2013 ONSC 1997, Justice Pazaratz found that the payor could not rely on material change of circumstances that he created himself as he was temporarily unemployed due to his own reckless conduct in committing crimes including driving while under suspension, The Court found that this was a “self-created situation” (para. 38). He cannot avoid child support obligation by a self-induced reduction of his income.
In Costello v. Costello 2012 ONCJ 399, Justice Zisman refused to vary the father’s child support obligations as a result of his losing his job due to his criminal behavior. He lost his job as a young offender probation officer after pleading guilty to 2 drinking and driving charges. She refers to Mayatt v. Mayatt 1993 CanLII 1144 (BC SC), 1993 Carswell BC 595, that found that a police officer who had lost his employment as a result of a drug conviction could not rely on such a loss of employment to reduce his support arrears.
She found that due to his criminal behavior on 2 occasions, that
“he is the author of his own destiny and she should not be able to rely on his own misconduct as an excuse to avoid his obligations to his children. Even though I accept that the father did not commit these offences to avoid his obligation to pay child support, the court should not condone such conduct.” (para. 43)”