In a recent decision of the B.C. Court of Appeal Boekhoff v. Boekhoff (2016) BCCA 33 the court looked at (among other things) an application by the husband to end spousal support.
The court emphasized that the test for the quantum of spousal maintenance is not to equalize incomes but rather one must refer to the amounts set out in the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG).
The court ordered an amount of spousal maintenance using the high end of the range set out in the SSAG because there was a compensatory component to the wife’s claim (i.e. she gave up her career to stay home and raise the children).
Also the court set a new amount but did not set an end date to the spousal maintenance obligation and the husband had already paid spousal maintenance for a period of time which was longer than the length of the marriage.
