Four People in the Household, One Has Filed for Bankruptcy, and They Are Paying Support for Children

Below is an example of how surplus income calculation would look when there are four people in the household, only one person has filed for bankruptcy, and they pay support for children.

Linda and Frank live common-law. Linda has one child from a previous relationship that lives with her. Frank has one child that lives with him and another for which he pays $375 a month in support directly to his ex (instead of having his wages garnisheed). Frank earns $1,750 every two weeks and Linda earns $100 every week, receives $250 in support and $175 from the child tax benefit. Linda co-signed all of her ex’s debts. When he filed for bankruptcy she ended up doing the same thing 3 months later.

Linda’s surplus income calculation looks like this:

Linda’s income: 4 x $100 =	$ 400
Plus her support received	250
Plus her child tax benefit	175
Linda’s total income	$ 825 A
Frank’s income: 2 x $1750	$ 3,500
Less support he pays	375
Frank’s total income	$ 3,125 B
Total household income (A+B)	3,950 C
Less the government threshold	– 3,474
Income over the threshold	$ 476 D
Surplus income rate (50%)	$ 238
Linda’s portion of income (A/C)	21 %
Linda’s surplus income (D x 21%)	$ 49.98

 

In this example, Linda would be have to pay an additional $49.98 this month to her trustee due to her surplus income requirement.