Amounts the taxpayer received from her spouse were support amounts notwithstanding that she "had a legal responsibility to pay off the mortgage [for the matrimonial home] and as such she had no choice but to make the mortgage payments with the support payments she received," and therefore, according to the taxpayer, she did not have discretion as to their use. Angers J stated (at para. 15):
I agree with Justice Hugessen of the Federal Court of Appeal in McKimmon ... at paragraph 15 where he writes that "common experience indicates that such things as life insurance premiums and blended monthly mortgage payments, while they allow an accumulation of capital over time, are a normal expense of living which are paid from income and can properly form part of an allowance for maintenance."