In Bounds or Out of Play: When are the Costs of Competitive Sports a Legitimate Section 7 Expense?

By Kayleigh Pink, Associate Research Lawyer, Lam Family Law*

Section 7 of the Child Support Guidelines (both Federal and Ontario) (“Guidelines”) governs “special or extraordinary expenses” that parents may be required to pay for their children. In determining whether a claimed expense is a legitimate s. 7 expense, the court takes into account the necessity of the expense in relation to the child’s best interests and the reasonableness of the expense in relation to the means of the parents and the child, and the spending pattern of the parents prior to separation: Federal Child Support Guidelines, SOR/97-175, s. 7 & Ontario’s Child Support Guidelines, O Reg 391/97, s. 7.