Don’t Wait too Long to Apply for Retroactive Child Support

A recently case in the BC Supreme Court highlights the need for parents receiving child maintenance to be vigilant in protecting that right.  In Piccini v. Dahlgren-Piccini,2010 BCSC 859, the court reiterated the fact that a parent cannot seek retroactive maintenance for an adult child.  In Piccini, the payor, Mr. Piccini, had understated his income for several years.  The court awarded the recipient parent, Ms. Piccini, retroactive maintenance the younger her two children, who was 17 at the date of hearing.  The court found, however, that, “ One of the difficult aspects of the current application is that while the defendant seeks retroactive variation, she cannot apply for any retroactive child support for Tiffany, who was no longer a “child of the marriage” after May 2009. The defendant does not have standing to bring an application on behalf of the adult child, Tiffany, who had withdrawn from parental care” (at paragraph 3).  This means that despite having incurred expenses on behalf of the child dating back prior to her reaching adulthood, the recipient parent could not obtain any relief in that regards.  Had Ms. Piccini brought on her application a year earlier, the result might have been quite different.  One question which was not canvassed is whether the adult child would have had standing in her own right to bring on a claim for retroactive maintenance against her father.

Posted: July 7th, 2010 under Case Analysis, Child Support.
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