What records can a court demand from a self-employed payor who takes most of their income in cash?

Ontario courts can order broad financial disclosure from a self-employed support payor well beyond a personal tax return, particularly where cash income raises credibility concerns about what's actually being reported. Commonly ordered records include business bank statements, invoices and receipts, point-of-sale or bookkeeping records, corporate financial statements if the business is incorporated, and documentation of major personal expenses that might reveal spending inconsistent with the reported income.

Because cash-based businesses make it easier to under-report revenue, courts are generally willing to look past the bottom-line number on a tax return and examine the underlying financial picture, including comparing lifestyle and spending against declared income. A payor who resists producing these records, or produces incomplete records, risks having the court draw an adverse inference and impute a higher income based on the available evidence, including the recipient's own evidence about the payor's visible lifestyle and spending. This is one of the more common and contentious issues in family law involving self-employed or cash-heavy payors, and recipients pursuing this kind of disclosure request usually benefit from being specific about what records they're asking for and why, rather than making a general demand.