An Edmonton father and daughter had not had any face-to-face communication since 2010. The father was paying child support of $1054.00 per month. He asked the court to terminate or reduce his support obligation since she turned 18 on the grounds that he had no proof that she had attended elective upgrading courses in 2013 and was actively enrolled in university in 2014. He further argued that his daughter should be contributing to her own education expenses. The Judge agreed. Justice Veit ruled that a minor child must provide basic information to establish active attendance in a post-secondary educational institution, and this obligation continues when the child turns 18. She wrote: “Requiring proof of active participation in post-secondary education is not equivalent to requiring the continuation of a filial relationship. Here, the daughter apparently chooses not to provide her father with any information concerning her ongoing scholastic progress because she feels that her father terminated the relationship. It is not clear ….why the active relationship between the father and his daughter terminated; even if it were the father’s “fault”, which certainly has not been proved here, that is no reason to deny the father the information he seeks”. Justice Veit further agreed that an adult child may, depending on their circumstances, contribute to his or her own education costs. In this case, the daughter had a part-time job. The judge concluded that she should pay 40% of her own expenses and her parents should pay 60% proportionately, according to their incomes. Justice Veit ordered that the father would not be required to pay his proportionate share of his daughter’s education expenses or his child support from January to May 2014 unless he receives, within one month of her decision, a copy from the school of his daughter’s final grades in her four university courses.
Lewis v. Correia, 2014 ABQB 314 (CanLII)
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