Using the Child Support Guidelines
The base amount of child support is set out by the Federal Child Support Guidelines. There are a series of tables that list amounts for child support payments. In BC, judges, lawyers, family counsellors and mediators all use the Guidelines tables to determine child support payments for separating parents.
Elements of Child Support Calculations
- Parents’ income: Depending on your parenting time arrangements, you may need either both parents’ or only the paying parent’s income, depending on your parenting time arrangements.
Sometimes, income is easy to calculate as you can just look at the amount stated at line 150 of the payor’s most recent tax return. Sometimes it is more complicated, such as when:
- The payor’s income fluctuates,
- the payor is hiding income,
- The payor is self employed or receives income from other sources like dividends.
In these cases you may need to get a professional to help calculate income. If a payor has recently changed jobs the calculation of income can be based on pay stubs.
- The number of children: Child support is based on the number of children from the relationship for whom child support is being paid. A parent may have more than one child support order if they have children from another relationship.
- The province or territory where the payor lives: If the payor lives outside of Canada, the Guideline tables for the province or territory where the recipient resides will be used in determining the amount of child support payable.
Resources
See the Child Support Table Lookup
Parenting Time Arrangements Determine Who Pays
What parenting arrangement was chosen for your children? This will determine who pays and who’s financial information is needed to calculate child support.
Primary Care
When one parent has the children most of the time – more than 60% - that parent has primary care for the children. The Federal Guidelines call this Sole Custody.
This is the default parenting used for the online calculator. Go to the Child Support Table Look Up page and enter information for the parent who does not have primary care who is also the paying parent.
- Enter gross income of the paying parent.
- Enter the number of children
- Enter the province
- Select : Look Up
- The amount shown is the monthly child support payment
Shared Parenting
When the children spend most of their time with both parents – at least 40% with each one – the parents have shared parenting. The Federal Guidelines call this Shared Parenting.
To calculate child support for a shared parenting arrangement, you simply go through the steps for each parent as the payor and then subtract the difference between the two. The parent who has higher income will be the payor. The payor only pays the off-set – the difference between the two amounts calculated.
Step 1 - First parent
- Enter gross income, the number of children and the province
- Select : Look Up and write down the monthly total shown
Step 2 - Other parent
- Enter gross income, the number of children and the province
- Select : Look Up and write down the monthly total shown
Step 3 – Total payment
- Subtract the lower amount from the higher amount.
- The payor is the one with the highest amount and pays the difference between the two amounts
Split Parenting
When one or more children spend most of their time with one parent – at least 60% - and one or more children spend most of their time with the other parent, this is called split parenting. The Federal Guidelines call this Split Parenting.
To calculate child support payments for this parenting arrangement, both parents input their information as if they are the payor – listing their income and the number of children that would live with the other parent. Once these amounts are calculated, the payor will be the parent who must pay the most. The payor will pay the other parent the difference between the two amounts.
Step 1 - First parent
- Enter gross income, the number of children with other parent and the province
- Select : Look Up and write down the monthly total shown
Step 2 - Other parent
- Enter gross income, the number of children with the other parent and the province
- Select : Look Up and write down the monthly total shown
Step 3 – Total payment
- Subtract the lower amount from the higher amount.
- The payor is the one with the highest amount and pays the difference between the two amounts
As you look at the tables, remember that the base Child Support amounts do NOT include special and extraordinary expenses. We will look at support payments for these types of expenses in Special and Extraordinary.
Resources
Go to the Child Support Online Lookup tool to calculate child support.
