How Is Child Support Calculated?

The Federal Child Support Guidelines sets out a mandatory framework for assessing and determining the obligation of parents to provide support for their children in the context of separation and divorce. 

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In Ontario, the provincial Child Support Guidelines contains tables that set out the basic amount of child support that a payor should pay according to his or her income and the number of children involved. That base amount is referred to as the "Table amount". On top of the Table amount, the Guidelines supplies an obligation on parents to contribute to special or extraordinary expenses, often called "section 7 expenses" as set out under section 7 of the Child Support Guidelines. These expenses include things such as child-care costs, post-secondary education expenses, private tutoring, medical and dental insurance premiums, extraordinary expenses for extracurricular activities or health-related expenses that are not covered by insurance. These section 7 expenses are divided between the parents, with each parent contributing to section 7 expenses in proportion to his or her income. 

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In order to be entitled to child support, a child must be either under the age of majority and has not left their parent's charge, or is the age of majority or over and cannot support themselves because of an illness, a disability or another cause (such as pursuing post-secondary education). 

For children in standard custodial arrangements, the non-custodial parent will be responsible for child support to help pay for the needs and education of the child. In cases of shared parenting, where each parent has care and control of a child 40% of the time or more over the course of a year, both parents are considered payors. The amount of child support for shared custody arrangements must be determined by taking into account:

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• The amounts set out in the applicable tables for each of the spouses;

• The increased costs of shared custody or parenting time arrangements; and 

• The conditions, means, needs and other circumstances of each parent and of any child for whom support is sought. 

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The court can deviate from these Guidelines in certain circumstances, where, for example, the payor's income exceeds $150,000.00 per year and the court determines that the amount is inappropriate, or where a child or spouse would otherwise suffer undue hardship from the requirement to pay child support assessed in accordance with the Guidelines. 

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Changing Child Support in a Court Order

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Child support may be modified if there has been a change in the child's circumstances or a change in the circumstances of either parent since the order was made that would result in a different support order. For example, if the payor of child support loses their job and can no longer pay the current amount of child support or if the child has withdrawn from parental control or finished his or her post-secondary education. Either parent can apply to vary a child support order if there is a material change. 

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We aid our clients in navigating all issues related to child support. For more information about child support, contact us today to schedule a free consultation with our firm.