Child Support

Children have a right to financial support from their parents. There are two kinds of child support:

• basic or “table” child support
• extraordinary or “section 7” expenses

Basic or table child support is determined by the Child Support Guidelines (CSG). CSG tables show monthly child support payments based on before tax income, number of children, and the province in which the payor resides. Basic child support is designed to cover costs that all children require such as shelter, food, clothing, heat, transportation, and other essentials.

“Full” table child support is owed by parents who care for children 40% or less of the time. The amounts are mandatory in these cases, that is, a judge has very limited discretion to depart from the full table amounts.

For parents who share time, the full table amounts do not necessarily apply. Instead, a “set-off” payment is often calculated. A “set-off” means the difference between the full table amount for the parent with the higher income less the full table amount for the parent with the lower income.

In addition to basic child support, parents must also share children’s extraordinary expenses in proportion to incomes. These are costs specific to individual families, such as daycare, post-secondary expenses, uninsured health/dental costs, tutoring, and extracurricular activities such as camp or sports.

Child support ends when a child is no longer dependent. Usually this is until a child is 18, but can be longer if a child is a full-time university or college student or is disabled.