How is Child Support Calculated in Ontario?

When parents separate, a common and important question that they have is how

support amounts will be calculated. The answer depends on your specific situation, but

Ontario follows a structured approach to ensure a level of predictability and to ensure

that your children receive appropriate support. There are several factors to consider that

play into how much support will be paid for your child(ren).

One of the most important things to keep in mind about child support is that there

is usually no way to waive or permanently stop paying it barring extraordinary

circumstances. Even if parties agree in writing not to pay child support, courts can

overturn such an agreement if it reduces support in a way that is against the child’s best

interests. Child support is considered the right of the child, and not that of the parent’s to

barter away.

There are federal Child Support Guidelines which outline the basic monthly

entitlement to child support required by the federal government based on a parties

income. These guidelines are meant to encourage consistency and fairness across

family law matters in the country. They set out how income is calculated, the base

payment amounts required based on that income, and the additional expenses which

may be shared between the parents. Typically, this is a starting point for lawyers and

courts when determining support amounts during a separation.

Another factor that is determinative of the amount of support one can expect to

receive is the total income of the paying parent. This amount is typically based on that

parent’s gross annual income. There are some factors which may influence this figure

such as self-employment, or undeclared income, or intentional underearning, however it

tends to be the baseline for determining the amount of monthly support that is due.

Should a party to try to hide their true income, or be purposely underemployed, a court

can impute an income to that party.

Additionally, the number of children receiving support will impact the overall

amount of child support that is owed. The more children there are, typically the more

support is required. The standard entitlements based on income and the number of

children is laid out by the federal Child Support Guidelines.

One of the biggest factors contributing to the amount of support that will be

received is the division of parenting time between the parties. If one parent has primary

parenting time of the child, they will typically receive the full table amount of child

support outlined by the federal guidelines. If parents enter into a shared-parenting

arrangement, a set-off calculation will apply based on the amount of time the child

spends with each parent.

There are also special or extraordinary expenses (sometimes called section 7

expenses) which may need to be shared between parents such as childcare expenses,

medical costs not covered by insurance, educational expenses or certain extracurricular

activities. These are typically divided proportionally based on parents’ income.

Child support can also change over time if there are different circumstances that

arise over the course of time. Some examples may be a significant change in income,

or a change in parenting arrangement. Additionally, there may be changes to the

expenses required for the child over time.

Ultimately, the amount of child support that a family is entitled to is very

personalized and can vary based on certain individual circumstances. Although there

are guidelines in place, calculating support can often become complex based on the

multitude of factors that go into determining payment amounts such as parenting time.

Understanding how the guidelines and factors that go into determining support apply to

your circumstances is the most important part of making an informed decision. It is

prudent to get a lawyer involved to ensure that incomes are properly calculated, all

relevant expenses have been captured, and that agreements are fair and binding in

court.