The Federal Child Support Guidelines state that when a person who is required to pay child maintenance has income that fluctuates every year the court can determine what is a reasonable income to impute to the payor.
Section 17(1) states that the court may impute an income that is fair and reasonable having regard to the payor’s income in the preceding 3 years.
The B.C. Court of Appeal recently departed from this and used an average of the payor’s previous 5 years income in Harras v. Lhotka 2016 BCCA 246.
The court stated that “Where a payor’s income fluctuates significantly, depending on the facts, guideline income may be based on a three-year or five-year average.
