Separated and divorced parents’ experiences with child support and related issues

The following is a list of questions for the semi-structured interview template:

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview. I will first ask you about some questions about you, the other parent and your children and then we will move into talking about child support issues.

1. What gender do you identify with?
2. How would you describe your culture/race?
3. How old are you? How old is the other parent?
4. What is the highest level of education that you have completed? 
5. What best describes your employment status during the past six months?
6. When did your relationship first begin (month/year)?
7. When did you last separate (month/year/day)?
8. Please provide the following information regarding the children of this relationship.(How many children from this previous relationship? What is the age and gender of the children?)
9. Who are the children living with now? (You- more then 60% of the time over a year); Other parent -more than 60% of the time over a year; Both -more than 40% of the time with you or the other parent over a year; Other, please specify:
10. Describe the in-person parenting time between you and the child(ren)
11. Describe the in-person parenting time between the other parent and the child(ren)
12. Is there other forms of parenting time apart from in-person between the other parent and the child(ren).

Child support

1. Are there child support arrangements in place? (If yes, who is the payor, how is it going? If no, then why not?)
2. Have you experienced any disputes over child support that were difficult to settle? ((if yes, then what are the issues disputes? Probe for issues with Income disclosure obligations to establish child support; Income determination; Child support determination in shared parenting time arrangements; Child support determination for families in different parenting time arrangements; Issues with income disclosure obligations once there is an order in place; Determining Special or extraordinary expenses; Determining expenses for shared parenting time; Issues with child support amounts being paid; Other, please specify).

Income disclosure

1. Have you ever experienced challenges regarding income disclosure? (If not problems identified with income disclosure then skip to next sets of questions).
2. If so, what were/are the challenges regarding income disclosure? Were there challenges with initial or ongoing income disclosure or both?^{Footnote 28}

Initial income disclosure

1. How frequently did challenges with initial income disclosure arise and how difficult was it to settle these issues? How were these challenges resolved? What solutions worked best for your situation? What were the strategies that assisted you with initial income disclosure (e.g., assistance of an accountant)?

Ongoing income disclosure

1. How frequently did you encounter challenges with ongoing income disclosure and how were they resolved? What were the strategies that assisted you with ongoing income disclosure and what solutions worked best in your situation?

Income determination

1. Did you experience challenges related to income determination? What were/are they, how frequently did they arise and how difficult was it to settle these issues? What solutions worked best for your situation? Regarding initial income determination, what strategies did you use to assist you with the determination of income? What challenges did you face with initial income determination and how were they resolved?

For parents with a shared parenting time arrangement

1. What positive and/or negative issues did you face with respect to the determination of the child support amount (prompt: calculating the 40% threshold, agreeing on whether shared parenting time is the best arrangement for the family, calculating the right child support amount, how did you calculate the amount, what does the amount cover, challenges with one parent not using agreed upon parenting time)?

Expenses for parents with shared parenting time

1. For parents with shared parenting time arrangements, are any of the following expenses covered in you child support order:
   1. child care expenses
   2. medical and dental insurance premiums attributable to the child
   3. health-related expenses such as orthodontic treatment, professional counselling provided by a psychologist, social worker, psychiatrist or any other person, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and prescription drugs, hearing aids, glasses and contact lenses;
   4. expenses for primary or secondary school education or for any other educational programs that meet the child's particular needs; 
   5. expenses for post-secondary education; and
   6. expenses for extracurricular activities.
2. Was an amount requested for the expenses discussed above? What difficulties were faced in determining or settling those amounts? How are the amounts shared between parents?
3. What expenses are paid for by one household but used in both households? How do parents share these expenses?
4. How did you determine the child support amount? (Prompt – did you use the Tables, do a set off, look at means, needs and other circumstances).

Special or extraordinary expenses

The Federal Child Support Guidelines include a closed list of special or extraordinary expenses. They are:

1. childcare expenses incurred as a result of employment, illness, disability, education or training for employment of the spouse who has the majority of parenting time;
2. that portion of the medical and dental insurance premiums attributable to the child;
3. health-related expenses that exceed insurance reimbursement by at least $100 annually, including orthodontic treatment, professional counselling provided by a psychologist, social worker, psychiatrist or any other person, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and prescription drugs, hearing aids, glasses and contact lenses;
4. extraordinary expenses for primary or secondary school education or for any other educational programs that meet the child's particular needs;
5. expenses for post-secondary education; and
6. extraordinary expenses for extracurricular activities

1. Was an amount requested for the expenses discussed above? For which expenses?
2. What difficulties were faced in determining or settling decisions regarding these expenses?
3. How is the payment for these special or extraordinary expenses divided between parents?
4. (if you have identified expenses for D or F) – What are the specific expenses?

Views of services

1. What services, if any, were helpful in resolving disputes related to child support issues for your case? Did you reach an agreement when determining child support, go to court, and/or seek the help of a family justice service?

Final thoughts

1. Are there any other issues you may want to share about your experiences