Child Support

Child support is the right of the child. In Ontario, child support is typically determined using the Federal Child Support Guidelines, which provide a structured method for calculating support based on income and parenting arrangements.

Table child support
In many cases, the starting point is the table amount based on the payor’s annual income and the number of children.

Special or extraordinary expenses (Section 7 expenses)
Certain additional expenses may be shared between parents, often in proportion to their incomes, including:

• Childcare required for work, education, or medical needs
• Medical/dental expenses not covered by insurance
• Extraordinary educational costs
• Post-secondary education expenses
• Extraordinary extracurricular activities (in appropriate circumstances)

Parenting arrangements and child support
Child support can be affected by how parenting time is shared, including:

• Primary residence/majority parenting time: Typically table support is paid by one parent to the other.
• Shared parenting time: Where each parent has the child at least 40% of the time, the Guidelines contemplate a different approach that considers both parties’ incomes and the costs of shared parenting.

Ongoing financial disclosure
Child support is often recalculated periodically based on updated income information (for example, annual exchange of tax returns and notices of assessment).