Effective as at May 1st, 1997, the federal government introduced the Child Support Guidelines which set a standard for the amount of support each support payor across Canada should be paying as the base amount of child support depending upon the number of children they have to support. It was intended to bring clarity and certainty to the field so everyone would know the amount which they could reasonably expect to pay or receive for child support wherever they were in Canada.

But these things are never as absolutely clear as intended and there’s a lot of questions with which the courts have had to deal.

As well, each of the provinces and territories have the option of establishing their own Guidelines, especially because the federal Guidelines only apply to children where the proceeding is under the Divorce Act. No divorce – no federal jurisdiction. So the provinces and territories have their own Guidelines to cover children of common law unions or children born where there isn’t, or never was, any ongoing relationship between the biological parents.

There’s lots you need to know to be aware of your rights and obligations concerning Child Support Guidelines. You can get a big chunk of that information here.