Calculating My Child Support in Ontario

Based on the table, if your gross annual income is $20,000 and you have 2 children, your table amount will be $311.

Another easy way to calculate the table amount is to the child support calculator available at the Child Support Lookup. This Lookup is based on the Child Support Guidelines and is simple to use. 

After deciding to get a divorce, there are many legal issues that will need to be resolved between the parties. If the marriage produced a child (or children), then one of these issues will be child support. 

All provinces in Canada, including Ontario, have definite laws that provide for child support. No matter how you intend your divorce to proceed, whether through the court system or by mediation, you must have a plan for child support if you have kids. 

Your plan for child support should include the amount of child support, who should pay and how it should be paid. But these issues will not be left solely to the discretion of you and the other parent. 

There are specific rules in Ontario that provide for who should pay child support and how much they must pay. In order to determine the amount of child support in your divorce, you will need to do the calculation based on these rules, and this may require the use of a child support calculator. 

In this article, we will explain how child support is calculated in Ontario and the factors you should keep in mind. 

Child support in Ontario is a reasonable amount that will be sufficient to maintain a reasonable standard of living for a child. 

It is payable every month and is determined based on the government’s projection for what is reasonable for a child to live on considering their parents’ income. In addition, the amount of child support may include special monthly expenses such as special classes or activities for a child. 

As a result, there is no specific figure for how much child support should be paid each month. It depends on several factors including: 

• The table amount
• Special or extraordinary expenses 
• Parenting arrangement 

The parent who has the children most of the time receives child support, while the other parent, has the responsibility to pay. This is a general rule though. To determine how much should be paid as child support (and who should pay), follow these steps.

The next step will be to determine if any special or extraordinary expenses apply in your case. These are also called section 7 expenses and may be added to the table amount. Expenses that fall within this category include: 

• The part of medical and dental insurance premiums that the other parent pays to cover the children
• Child care needs that a parent living with the child would face due to their job such as daycare expenses, illness etc. 
• Children’s healthcare needs, over that covered by insurance such as eye care, counselling, hearing aids etc.  
• Expenses for extra-curricular activities such as music lessons or sports
• Expenses for post-secondary education
• Expenses for primary and secondary education

Not all expenses will make this list though. To be considered special or extraordinary expenses, they must be necessary and reasonable. Being necessary means they are required for the child’s best interests and being reasonable means they are within the family’s financial means. 

Here’s how you can calculate these expenses, either manually or with a child support calculator. If you have one child who has basketball at a cost of $200 monthly, this amount may be added to your table amount. If the table amount was $311, then it means your child support payment is now $511. 

There is no set provision for who must pay these special or extraordinary expenses. You may agree to have one parent pay the whole amount, split them equally or in relation to how much each parent earns. 

If you agree to split 50-50, it means the paying parent only pays 50% of the special expenses plus the table amount. Here’s how that works: if the special expense is $200 and you agree to split half and half, then that leave $100 for each of you. Add this $100 to the $311 table amount, and the child support will be $411.

Not all the time. There are certain specific circumstances where this may be the case though. For instance, where there is shared custody or split custody between the parents, the amount may change. 

Shared custody is what happens when the child spends more than 40% of his or her time with each parent. In this case, both parents now have an obligation to pay child support. So, you’ll have to calculate each parent’s annual income to arrive at the table amount and determine special or extraordinary expenses. Remember that in this case, you’re both treated as if you have 1 child living with you. 

Once you determine how much each parent should pay, then the parent who has to pay more only pays the difference between the two amounts. Assume John and Sarah go through the calculation and determine their amounts are $300 and $500 respectively. It means, in this case, Sarah pays John the difference between $500 and $300 in child support. That’s $200. 

Split custody is similar to shared custody. Only now, there are two or more children and each parent has at least one child that lives with them most of the time. In this case, both will also have to pay child support. Likewise, when they determine how much each should pay, the parent who has to pay more only pays the difference.

Keep in mind that in calculating child support for split custody, you should pick the table amount that applies to how many children live with you.

When all the details are agreed upon, you should think about how you want to arrange and schedule child support. This may be in one of three ways: 

• Online, through the official Ontario portal
• By written agreement
• In court

If you choose to go by a written agreement, an accredited mediator can help you take care of all the details. If you would like to have the agreement enrolled with the Family Responsibility Office, you can enroll an agreement in the court as well. 

Keep in mind that your agreement should contain enough details on when payment should be made and how.