How Does Child Support Work With Equal Shared Parenting in Ontario?
A parent's duty to support their children applies to the extent the parent is capable of paying, and it applies whether or not the parents were ever married. Where each parent has the children at least 40% of the time over a year, a different calculation applies. Whether anyone pays, and how much, depends on the facts and incomes.
A court making a child support order must follow the child support guidelines. The court may award a different amount if a parent would otherwise suffer undue hardship, and one listed circumstance is unusually high costs of exercising parenting time. Even then, the court must deny the claim if the claiming parent's household would have a higher standard of living than the other household after the reduction.
Parents with shared or split parenting cannot use the online Child Support Service. Support is not suspended because parenting time is denied; the Family Responsibility Office tells payors to keep paying until it says in writing they can stop. A lawyer can explain how the shared calculation applies to your incomes and schedule.
Key takeaways
- For never-married parents, or married parents separating without divorcing, the Family Law Act requires each parent to support an unmarried child who is a minor, is in a full-time program of education, or cannot withdraw from parental charge because of illness, disability or other cause, to the extent the parent is capable of paying, while divorcing parents are under the Divorce Act instead.
- A different calculation applies where each parent has at least 40% of parenting time over a year.
- A court may award a different amount for undue hardship, but it must deny the claim if the claiming parent's household would have a higher standard of living.
- The online Child Support Service is not available for split or shared parenting.