Child support
This resource explains who is legally responsible to pay child support, how it is calculated, and how it is enforced.
What is child support?
Generally, child support is money paid by the parent who spends less time with the child to the parent who takes care of the child most of the time.
Who pays child support?
The law says that parents must financially support their dependent children. A parent can be a birth parent, a non-birth parent, an adoptive parent, and sometimes a step-parent. The parent who pays child support is called the payor parent.
How is child support calculated?
Child support is usually made up of a basic monthly amount and an amount for other expenses, called special or extraordinary expenses.
Table amount
Each province and territory has a Child Support Table. The Table shows the basic monthly amounts of child support to cover expenses like clothes, food, and school supplies. The basic amount is also called the table amount.
The table amount is based on the gross annual income of the payor parent and the number of children they have to support.
Gross annual income is the total income a person earns in the year before subtracting taxes and other deductions. It is usually the amount on line 150 on your income tax return.
To find out what a parent in Ontario has to pay in child support, visit justice.gc.ca/eng/fl-df and click on “Child Support”, then click on “2017 Child Support Table Look-up”. Enter the annual gross income of the payor parent, the number of children, and select “Ontario” for province of residence.
Special or extraordinary expenses
Parents may also have to share other expenses like:
- child-care fees
- medical and dental insurance premiums and expenses
- extracurricular activities
These types of expenses are special or extraordinary only if they are both:
- reasonable, which means that the parents can afford it, and
- necessary for the child’s best interests
Parents usually share these expenses based on their income.
When does a parent not pay the table amount?
Child support may be different if the parents have:
- Shared parenting time: where each parent has the child at least 40% of the time
- Split parenting time: where there is more than one child, and some children live with one parent and the other children live with the other parent
Parenting time is the time that a child spends in the care of a parent. Parenting time used to be called access.
Step-parents may also pay less child support if there is another parent who also pays child support.
What income information is needed to calculate child support?
The payor parent usually has to give detailed information about their income and share, for example:
- income tax returns
- statements of earnings from employers
- financial statements if the parent owns a business
The other parent might have to share the same information. For example, if there are special or extraordinary expenses. Or if they have shared or split parenting time.
Imputing income
If a parent does not agree with what the payor parent says their income is, they can go to court and ask a judge to decide an amount for the payor parent’s income. For example, if the payor parent:
- does not share information about their income
- is self-employed or is being paid in cash, and there is reason to believe they do not report all of their income
The judge might decide an amount for the payor parent’s income that is reasonable based on things such as the parent’s work history, past income, and education. This is called imputing income. The judge applies the Table to that income.
How is child support decided?
Parents can try to agree on the amount of child support using the Child Support Table. If they agree, they can make a written agreement.
If parents cannot agree on an amount, they can:
- use the online Child Support Service at ontario.ca/page/set-up-or-update-child-support-online to get a Notice of Calculation
- get help from a family law professional, like a mediator or lawyer, to make a written agreement
- go to family court and ask for a court order
How is child support enforced?
The Family Responsibility Office (FRO) is a government agency that can enforce support payments that are in a:
- Notice of Calculation
- written agreement filed with the court
- court order
This means that FRO collects child support directly from the payor parent and pays that amount to the other parent.
And, if a payor parent misses a payment, FRO can, for example:
- suspend their driver’s licence
- report them to credit bureaus
- cancel their passports
Can child support affect parenting time?
No. The right to child support and the right to spend time with a child are separate legal issues. A parent has a right to parenting time even when they have not paid child support. And a parent might have to pay child support even if they do not have parenting time.
How long does child support last?
Child support must be paid as long as the child is a dependent. Dependent usually means until the child turns 18 and sometimes longer. A child is not dependent if they marry, or are at least 16 years old and choose to leave home.
A child who is 18 or older may be considered dependent if they cannot support themselves because they:
- have a disability or illness, or
- are going to school full time
What about parents on ODSP or OW?
Parents have to report child support payments to Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) or Ontario Works (OW). But, child support payments do not affect the amount of income assistance that a parent gets. So if they get child support, they get that money and their income assistance.
But this only applies to child support that is owed for periods of time on or after these dates:
- January 1, 2017, for parents who get ODSP
- February 1, 2017, for parents who get OW
The Child Support Guidelines say that payor parents on income assistance with a yearly income of $12,000 or less do not have to make child support payments.
How is child support taxed?
The parent who gets child support is not taxed on it. And the payor parent cannot deduct it from their taxable income.
More information and legal help
See stepstojustice.ca/family-law and CLEO’s other family law resources for more information.
For help finding a lawyer or a mediator, see the resource Family Law: Legal Help. It also has information on where to get help if you cannot afford the fees.
For help filling out family court forms, see CLEO’s Family Law Guided Pathways: stepstojustice.ca/guided-pathway.