The Nova Scotia Administrative Recalculation of Child Support Program allows parties who have a child support order to have their child support table amount reviewed yearly, and adjusted where appropriate. This Program may allow you to update your child support without the need to return to court and negotiate a new order. If you have a child support order that states that child support is payable in accordance with the child support guidelines, you may qualify to be part of the Administrative Recalculation Program.
Enrollment into the Administrative Recalculation Program can only be approved if the parties and the order meet certain conditions. These conditions include:
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Both parties must live in Nova Scotia;
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One party must have primary care of the children. The program does not apply in shared parenting arrangements;
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You must have a court order signed by a judge or a separation agreement which has been registered with the court;
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The order must say that the child support will be recalculated at regular times in accordance with the Program;
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The order must contain an amount for child support based on the Child Maintenance Guidelines or Child Support Guidelines and tables (even if the payer’s income is $150,000 or above);
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The order must be based on the annual income of the paying parent only. It cannot be an average or based on a pattern of income or undue hardship;
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The paying parent cannot be self-employed or in a partnership or receive dividend income.
If you are making an application to change a child support order that has already been enrolled in the Administrative Recalculation Program and you want your new varied order to continue in the program, you should say so on your Notice of Variation Application to make sure that the recalculation clauses are repeated in the new order. You will also need to send a copy of your Application to the Administrative Recalculation Program at PO Box 23, Halifax, NS B3J 2L4.
If you are asking to change a child support order that was not enrolled in the recalculation program, and you want your varied child support order enrolled in the program, you must make a court application asking for an order authorizing the recalculation of child support under the Administrative Recalculation Program.
For more information about the Administrative Recalculation Program, click here.