Child Support for Common-Law Parents in Ontario

If you were never married, you may wonder whether you can claim child support at all, or whether the rules are weaker than they would be for a married couple. For child support, the answer is reassuring: being unmarried does not take away a child's right to support.

This article explains how child support works for common-law parents in Ontario, how amounts are set, what other costs may be shared, and where marital status does still matter. It is general information, and a lawyer can apply it to your situation.

Does marital status affect child support?

Only legally married couples can divorce, and the federal Divorce Act covers only married couples. That can create the impression that unmarried parents are left out. They are not. Provincial and territorial laws cover unmarried couples who separate, including child support, spousal support and custody.

In Ontario, child support is worked out using the same approach regardless of marital status. It is based on the number of children, the province where the paying parent lives, and the paying parent's annual income.

How the amount is set

The updated federal tables apply to all Ontario child support matters starting October 1, 2025. To use them, you look up the paying parent's province and the number of children, find the closest income row, and for income over $150,000 use the chart at the end of the table.

The tables are for payments from October 1, 2025 onward, and earlier amounts use the 2017 tables. If your case involves support from before that date, the earlier tables may matter. Check the current tables or ask a lawyer to confirm the figure, because newer tables may be published.

The table amount is only part of the picture. Special expenses, such as orthodontics, prescriptions, sports fees and child care, are shared on disclosure of status and amount.

Income proof and ongoing disclosure

Child support depends on current income, so honest disclosure matters. The paying parent must give the other parent proof of income every year, being the last tax return and notice of assessment or reassessment, within 30 days of the original order or agreement date unless the parents agree otherwise.

• Keep copies of your tax returns and notices of assessment each year.
• Ask for the other parent's documents if they are not provided.
• Keep receipts for special expenses, such as child care or sports fees.
• Tell the other parent about changes in income or expenses and keep records of what you shared.

Parenting, support and government benefits

Child support is separate from decision-making responsibility and parenting time. Decision-making responsibility is the right to make significant decisions about a child's health, education, religion and other important matters, and it may be sole or joint. Parenting time is the time a child spends in a parent's care, and a parent generally has it unless a court finds otherwise.

In a parenting order the judge must make an order in the child's best interests, and must consider family violence and the child's current living arrangements. A cohabitation agreement cannot say who has decision-making responsibility or parenting time.

Parenting arrangements can also affect benefits. For the Canada Child Benefit, CRA treats a child living with you 40% to 60% of the time as shared custody, and if the child lives with you less than 40% of the time you are not eligible for child and family benefits for that child. Each parent must immediately tell CRA of a new custody situation.

How to start and what to do next

There are different ways to formalize child support. You can negotiate an agreement, or ask the court to decide. In an Ontario family court, a general application (Form 8) is used when making claims other than a divorce, and parenting time, decision-making responsibility, child support and dividing property are among the issues a judge can be asked to decide.

• Gather the last few years of tax returns and notices of assessment for both parents.
• Write down where the child lives and the actual schedule you follow now.
• List special expenses, such as child care, prescriptions and activities, with amounts.
• Check the current federal child support tables for the paying parent's province and income.
• Note any government benefits you receive for the child and update CRA if the situation changes.
• Speak with a lawyer about whether to negotiate an agreement or start a Form 8 application.

If you are also asking about spousal support or property, those claims turn on different rules, so ask about them at the same time.

Frequently asked questions