Child Support

Parents have the legal obligation to support their children and to provide them with the necessities of life, including adequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and education. This responsibility applies to all parents, regardless of living situation and/or marital status. Child support is the financial contribution paid by a parent to help provide for his or her children, who are not in that parent’s custody.

Child support is regulated by the Child Support Guidelines. The Guidelines have made the determination of the child support payable relatively straight forward. Essentially, child support is determined by taking the payers income and the number of children and looking at the tables in the child support guidelines which are available online at http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/sup-pen/index.html

It possible that the court could order a parent to pay child support at a less amount than the guidelines. However it is only in rare circumstances of “undue hardship” or if the child is over the age of majority which is 18 years old.

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