Hi,

I got married to a US citizen this January/2020 in the United States. I live in Canada with my two children from a previous marriage. In April/2020,  I filed my 2019 tax;  for my marital status, I put single because I thought we have to declare status change for the tax year of marriage. e.i. the marriage took place in 2020 so file married for 2020 tax. Recently I found out that I was supposed to report to CRA within 30 days of the change to marital status, which I have not.

I would like to know by changing the marital status to married, will I lose my Child Tax Benefit? I am currently receiving about $1200 for both children and $1500 for child support (previous partner).  Once my profile is updated, do I have to repay all that money back? My husband lives in the United States and does not support me in Canada, vice versa. He makes about $130k USD. He is very irresponsible with his money and has lots of debt. Right now I cannot rely on him. 

What can I do to continue to get support from  Child Tax Benefit? Losing this would be really difficult for the three of us to get by. One of my children has ADHD and the other had a stroke recently and is dealing with a physical disability.