As at May 1st, 1997, the Canadian federal government has changed the way child support is dealt with in Canada in two major ways. This was done through the introduction of the Child Support Guidelines and amendments to the Divorce Act. Since then the various provinces have adopted the same approach with most of the provinces adopting Guidelines which mirror the federal Guidelines, although some provinces have enacted their own Guidelines.

Firstly, any new order or agreement for child support made or entered since May 1st, 1997, and any order made after then which varies an earlier order, is on the basis that the payment will not be deductible from the income of the payor or includable in the income of the recipient for Income Tax purposes. This is the opposite of the earlier tax system. (Spousal support payments remain deductable from the income of the payor and includable in he income of the recipient for income tax purposes.)

Secondly, any order made by the court on or after May 1st, 1997, and any variation of an earlier order, for child support must be in accordance with the new Child Support Guidelines which set out tables showing how much is to be paid depending only upon the income of the payor, the number of children being supported and the province or territory in which the payor lives. The Guidelines have a detailed set of rules dealing with additional expenses which may be ordered and how to deal with such things as shared or split custody. It will be quite difficult to get the court to order an amount different than as provided in the guidelines, although parties may still make their own agreements for different amounts.

Below is a guide to the some sources of information about this topic both here at the Family Law Centre and on the rest of the Internet.

• Actual text of the final version
• Amendments
• Federal Goverment Information
• Information available in paper