Basics of Family Law
Child Support
What are the child support guidelines?
The child support guidelines are the rules for calculating the amount one parent must pay to the other parent to help support their child or children. The guidelines apply to all parents who are not together - whether they were married, lived in an opposite- or same-sex common-law relationship, or never lived together at all. (The guidelines also apply to step-parents who meet the legal requirements for being responsible to pay child support. The guidelines include a special rule for calculating the amount a step-parent must pay.)
The guidelines include tables setting out monthly child support amounts. These amounts are based on the average amounts parents spend to raise a child, and are based on two main factors:
- the paying parent's level of income, and
- the number of children eligible for child support.
The guidelines work on the principle that both parents should share the same portion of their income with their child as they would if they had continued to live together. In broad terms, the guidelines ask "what would a parent with this income usually spend on his or her child?" and set support payments for the paying parent accordingly. The guidelines assume that the parent with custody will also contribute to the cost of raising the child in proportion to his or her income.
In almost all cases, judges are required to follow the guidelines to determine the amount of child support payments. This makes it easier for parents to settle child support out of court. If both parents know in advance what a judge is likely to order for child support, it may be possible for them to come to an agreement on a suitable amount without having to go to court.
If you are going through divorce or separation now, the child support guidelines will automatically apply to you and your children, and so will two other rules.
The first rule concerns income tax, and it states that:
- if you are the parent paying child support, you cannot use your child support payments as a deduction on your income tax, and
- if you are the parent receiving child support, you do not have to report the child support as income - which means you do not have to pay tax on the child support payments.
The second rule concerns how long a child remains eligible for child support.
Under this rule, child support generally ends at age 19; however, children who are age 19 or older and still dependent on their parents are still eligible for child support in certain special circumstances. In other words, if your children are still dependent after they turn 19 - owing to illness or disability, for example, or because they are still in school - then you are legally obligated to continue to support them.
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