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Child Support

Child support in Canada is the least discretionary money question in family law: the Federal Child Support Guidelines produce a table amount from the paying parent's gross income, the number of children and the province — and courts depart from it only in defined situations. It is the child's right, not the parents' bargaining chip. Call 1-855-529-1555 free, any hour, to understand what the framework produces for your family.

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Child Support at a glance

The formula

The Guidelines table amount: payor's gross annual income + number of children + province. Judges depart only in defined cases

On top of the table

Section 7 "special or extraordinary expenses" — child care, medical and dental, some activities and post-secondary — shared in proportion to incomes

Shared time changes the math

At 40%+ time with each parent, the table gives way to a set-off-based, discretionary calculation

It cannot be waived

Child support is the child's right — parents cannot contract out of it, and courts won't rubber-stamp deals that shortchange the child

Enforcement

Provincial agencies (Ontario's FRO, BC's FMEP and counterparts) collect by garnishment, licence suspension and more

How the tables work

Look up the paying parent's gross annual income in the federal table for their province and the number of children, and that is the presumptive monthly amount. Income means line-15000 total income for employees, with adjustments; for the self-employed, income can be reconstructed — courts can add back personal benefits run through a business and impute income to parents who are deliberately underemployed. Annual disclosure and updates keep the number honest as incomes move.

Above the table sit s 7 special expenses — child care that enables work, health costs above insurance, extraordinary school or activity costs, post-secondary — shared proportionately to the parents' incomes, on receipts, not vibes. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

When the amount differs from the table

The defined exits: shared parenting time (each parent 40% or more), where the calculation starts from a set-off of the two table amounts and adjusts for actual circumstances; split arrangements (each parent has primary care of at least one child); undue hardship (a high bar with a household-standards comparison built in); payor incomes over $150,000, where courts may adjust the amount above the first $150,000; and adult children in genuine need (post-secondary students most commonly), where support can continue past 18 with a tailored amount. Step-parents can owe support too, where they stood in the place of a parent. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

Changing the number — and collecting it

Support is never frozen: material changes — income up or down, the schedule crossing the 40% line, a child finishing school — ground a variation, and several provinces offer administrative recalculation services that update table amounts without court. What does not work is silently paying less: arrears accumulate as judgments and are rarely erased retroactively.

Enforcement is institutional. Register the order or agreement with your province's maintenance enforcement program — Ontario's Family Responsibility Office, BC's Family Maintenance Enforcement Program and counterparts — and the state collects: wage garnishment, bank seizure, federal interceptions (tax refunds, EI), driver's licence and passport suspensions for determined non-payers. Talk it through with a lawyer now →

Getting child support sorted, step by step

Exchange real income disclosureTax returns, notices of assessment, pay statements. Every honest number downstream depends on this step — and courts punish games with imputed income and costs.

Run the table and s 7 expensesThe federal table for the payor's province and income, plus proportionate sharing of the defined special expenses. Put it in an agreement or order.

Register for enforcement — and update as life movesRegister with your province's enforcement program, and vary the amount when circumstances genuinely change. Call 1-855-529-1555 free, any hour — a C$295 consultation with a Canadian family lawyer (the total, nothing added) is bookable on the call.

Child Support — your questions answered

How much child support will I pay or receive?

Start with the federal table for the paying parent's province: gross annual income and number of children produce the monthly figure. Add a proportionate share of s 7 special expenses. The common adjustments: 40%+ shared time (set-off-based math), incomes above $150,000, adult children, undue hardship. Because the tables are public, the free line can walk you through exactly how the framework applies to your numbers.

Can we agree to no child support?

Not durably. Child support is the child's legal right — a deal that waives or undercuts it will not bind a court, and judges reviewing separation agreements or divorce paperwork check the number against the Guidelines. Deals that trade support against parenting time are equally bad currency: the two are legally independent. Agreements that structure support differently for genuine reasons can pass, but they need drafting with the Guidelines in view.

My ex won't pay. What actually works?

Registration, not persuasion. Get the order or agreement registered with your province's enforcement program — Ontario's FRO, BC's FMEP, and counterparts — and let the machinery work: garnished wages, seized accounts, intercepted tax refunds, suspended driver's licences and passports. Arrears survive as judgments and follow payors across provinces (and many international borders) through reciprocal enforcement.

I lost my job — can I just pay less?

Not unilaterally. Apply to vary (or use your province's recalculation service) promptly, with disclosure — courts adjust support to real incomes, but they rarely forgive arrears that piled up while you paid a self-chosen number in silence. The same speed matters in reverse: if the payor's income has clearly risen, seek the update; increases generally run from when you moved, not from when you first wondered.

Does support end at 18?

Not automatically. Support continues for adult children who cannot withdraw from parental charge — full-time post-secondary students are the classic case, with amounts often tailored rather than pure table, and the child's own means in the mix. Illness and disability can extend support indefinitely. The end point is a facts question, not a birthday.