Child Support in Canada

Child support is money one parent (or a person standing in the place of a parent) pays to another to help cover the cost of raising their children. In Canada, the amount is usually set by the Federal Child Support Guidelines and their tables.

This guide gives an overview of child support in Canada: what it is, who pays, how the amount is set, how to put it in an agreement or court order, and how to enforce or change it. Two companion guides go further:

• How to Calculate Child Support in Canada explains the Guidelines' calculations step by step: table support, shared and split parenting time, special expenses, Guideline income and the exceptions.
• Entitlement to Child Support covers who has to pay and who can receive support, including adult children, stepparents and new partners.

To calculate support now, try the Divorcepath child support calculator or read the Child Support Quickstart.

This guide provides general legal information, not legal advice. If you need help with a child support claim, please contact us for a referral to a local family lawyer.

What child support is (and isn't)

When parents separate, costs go up: two homes, two sets of household expenses, often on the same total income. Where children live mainly with one parent, that parent carries most of the day-to-day costs. Where children live with both parents but one earns more, the children may have a very different standard of living in each home.

Child support makes sure both parents contribute to raising their children according to their means, regardless of where the children live. Although support is usually paid to a parent, Canadian law treats it as the right of the child. Its purpose is to provide for the children.

It is just as important to understand what child support is not:

• It isn't a condition of parenting time. Parenting time and decision-making responsibility are decided separately. A parent can't withhold parenting time because support is unpaid, and a parent can't stop paying support because they aren't seeing the children.
• It isn't spousal support. Child support is for the children. Support for a former spouse or partner, including compensation for the economic effects of the relationship, is dealt with separately as spousal support.

Child support is payable even if the paying parent has no other involvement in the child's life, and even if both parents share parenting time equally but one earns more. Financial difficulty doesn't end the obligation, and unpaid child support isn't wiped out by bankruptcy.

Who pays child support

The basic requirement is parenthood. Biological and adoptive parents have a duty to support their children whether or not they were ever married or lived together. In some circumstances, a stepparent or another person who has acted as a parent may also have to pay.

Support generally continues until a child reaches the age of majority (18 or 19, depending on the province or territory). It may continue after that while the child is still dependent, for example because of a disability or because they are in full-time post-secondary education.

The rules come from two sources: the federal Divorce Act for married or formerly married parents, and provincial or territorial family law legislation for everyone else. They differ in some details. Entitlement to Child Support explains them, including support for adult children, claims against stepparents, and what happens when a paying parent dies.

How the amount is set

Outside Quebec, child support is normally the total of two amounts under the Guidelines:

• Table support (section 3). A monthly amount from the child support table for the paying parent's province or territory, based on that parent's income and the number of children.
• Special or extraordinary expenses (section 7). A share of expenses such as child care, health costs beyond insurance, extraordinary school or extracurricular costs and post-secondary education. These are shared in proportion to the parents' incomes after tax savings and subsidies.

Different rules apply when parenting time is shared (each parent has at least 40%) or split (each parent has the majority of parenting time with at least one child). A court can also order a different amount for a child over the age of majority, for income over $150,000, or where table support would cause undue hardship.

New child support tables took effect on October 1, 2025. Under the new tables, no table support is payable on income of $16,000 or less. An order made before October 1, 2025 doesn't change automatically, but a different table amount can be a change in circumstances that justifies a variation (see Changing child support below).

Because the amount depends so heavily on each parent's income, the most common disputes are about what income should be used. That includes self-employment and corporate income, non-taxable income, and whether income should be imputed to a parent who isn't working to their capacity.

For the full rules, worked examples and how to model them in the calculator, read How to Calculate Child Support in Canada. Quebec has its own child support guidelines and tables, which aren't covered here.

Agreeing on child support or going to court

Separation agreements and consent orders

Many parents agree on child support in a written separation agreement, or file a consent order. An agreement should follow the Guidelines. Under the Divorce Act, a court asked to make a support order on consent can approve a different amount only if it is satisfied that reasonable arrangements have been made for the child's support. An agreement for less than the Guidelines amount may not prevent a parent from later asking a court for the Guidelines amount. A court can also take into account special provisions that benefit the child, such as a transfer of property, if applying the Guidelines would be inequitable as a result.

A good agreement also deals with how support will be updated, for example through annual exchange of income information and recalculation. It should also deal with how section 7 expenses will be approved and shared.

Court applications

If parents can't agree, either can apply to court:

• Married or formerly married parents can claim child support under section 15.1 of the Divorce Act. This can be done as part of a divorce, which requires that one spouse has been habitually resident in the province for at least one year before the proceeding starts. After a divorce, it can be done in a separate "corollary relief" proceeding. Divorce Act claims are heard in the province's superior court, for example the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, or the Court of King's Bench in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
• Parents who were never married, and married parents who aren't seeking a divorce, apply under their province's or territory's family law legislation. Depending on the province, these claims may be heard in a provincial court or the superior court.

The amount of support is determined under the Guidelines either way, but procedures, forms and some eligibility rules vary by province. For province-specific information and court forms, see our provincial child support pages:

• Child support in Alberta
• Child support in British Columbia
• Child support in Manitoba
• Child support in New Brunswick
• Child support in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Child support in the Northwest Territories
• Child support in Nova Scotia
• Child support in Nunavut
• Child support in Ontario
• Child support in Prince Edward Island
• Child support in Saskatchewan
• Child support in Yukon

Each side must provide financial disclosure, usually three years of income tax returns and notices of assessment plus current income information. The court relies on it to determine income. Divorcepath's disclosure requests can help you collect it.

Enforcing and collecting child support

Every province and territory has a program that enforces support orders and registered agreements. Payments can be made through the program, which tracks what is paid and owed. If payments are missed, the program can take enforcement steps such as garnishing wages and bank accounts, registering against property, and suspending driver's licences.

Justice Canada keeps a current list of enforcement programs with contact details.

Federal law adds more tools. Under the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act, enforcement programs can have federal payments such as income tax refunds and employment insurance benefits redirected to pay support. They can also ask the federal government to deny or suspend a passport and certain federal licences once a payor has missed three or more payments or is $3,000 or more behind. Programs can also work with other provinces and many other countries to enforce orders against a parent who has moved.

Unpaid support (arrears) remains owing until it is paid or a court reduces it. Courts cancel arrears only in exceptional cases.

Changing child support

Child support isn't fixed forever. As incomes, parenting arrangements and children's needs change, the amount should be updated.

Change in circumstances

To vary a court order, a parent generally has to show a change in circumstances since the order was made. For orders based on the tables, section 14 of the Guidelines makes this straightforward:

(a) in the case where the amount of child support includes a determination made in accordance with the applicable table, any change in circumstances that would result in a different child support order or any provision thereof

Common examples are a change in either parent's income, a change in where the children live or how parenting time is divided, a child becoming an adult or finishing school, new or changed section 7 expenses, and the 2025 tables themselves. Parents can agree to vary support in writing, or either parent can apply to court.

Annual disclosure and recalculation

Under section 25 of the Guidelines, either parent can make a written request, no more than once a year, for the other parent's updated income information. Many agreements and orders require an annual exchange of tax returns and a recalculation.

Most provinces and territories also offer a free administrative service that can calculate or recalculate support using updated income information, without going to court:

Eligibility rules vary. These services generally handle straightforward table recalculations rather than disputes about imputed income or undue hardship.

Retroactive support

When income changes aren't disclosed, the amount paid can fall out of step with the Guidelines, and a court may order a retroactive increase or decrease. The Supreme Court of Canada has set out the framework:

• In D.B.S. v. S.R.G., 2006 SCC 37, the Court held that retroactive increases are discretionary. They presumptively go back to the date the recipient gave effective notice that support should change, generally no more than three years before formal notice. A payor's blameworthy conduct can move the date back further, and failing to disclose an increase in income is itself blameworthy.
• In Colucci v. Colucci, 2021 SCC 24, the Court applied a similar framework to retroactive decreases under the Divorce Act. A decrease presumptively goes back to the date the payor gave effective notice of the change, with the documents to prove it, up to three years before formal notice. The Court stressed that "frank disclosure of income information by the payor lies at the foundation of the child support regime".
• In Michel v. Graydon, 2020 SCC 24, a case under British Columbia's Family Law Act, the Court held that past child support can be varied even after the child has become an adult.

The practical lesson for both parents is to share income information every year and update support promptly. Waiting can lead to large arrears or a costly retroactive claim.

Child support and taxes

Child support paid under an order or agreement made after April 1997 isn't deductible by the payor or taxable to the recipient. Recipients can deduct legal fees to establish, increase or collect child support. A parent who pays support generally can't claim the eligible dependant amount for that child, and in shared parenting each parent receives half of the Canada Child Benefit they would otherwise get. These rules are explained in more detail in How to Calculate Child Support in Canada.

Calculating child support online

The Divorcepath child support calculator applies the Federal Child Support Guidelines for every province and territory except Quebec. It covers table support, shared and split parenting time, section 7 expenses, income adjustments and undue hardship, and it produces reports you can share with the other parent, a mediator or the court. Start with the Child Support Quickstart, or contact us if you need help.