How Child Support Guidelines and Table Amounts Work in Ontario

If you are separating and have children, one of the first questions you will face is how much child support should be paid. Many parents expect a negotiation — each side making offers until they land somewhere in the middle. That is not how Ontario works. The child support guidelines Ontario follows are a federal formula, and for most families the monthly amount is not negotiable at all. It comes directly from a table.

Understanding where that number comes from, and what it does and does not cover, puts you in a much stronger position — whether you are the parent paying support or the one receiving it. This article walks through how the Federal Child Support Guidelines produce a base monthly amount, what that amount is meant to do, and where there is still genuine room for discussion.

How the Federal Child Support Guidelines Work

Child support in Ontario is governed by the Federal Child Support Guidelines, a set of rules enacted under the Divorce Act and also adopted by Ontario's Family Law Act for unmarried parents. The Guidelines apply to virtually every separated family in the province with dependent children.

The core principle is straightforward: children have a right to benefit from both parents' incomes, and the paying parent's fair contribution is determined by a consistent national formula rather than by whoever negotiates hardest. Courts are required to order the table amount unless a specific exception applies. Lawyers and judges do not simply "split the difference" — they apply the formula.

Reading the Child Support Tables

The tables themselves look like a spreadsheet. Along one axis is the payor's annual income; along the other is the number of children. The cell where those two values meet is the base monthly support amount. Here is how you arrive at that cell.

Step 1 — Establish the payor's income

"Income" for child support purposes is not simply the number on a pay stub. The Guidelines define a specific process for calculating Line 15000 income (total income from the income tax return) and then making certain adjustments. Common adjustments include:

• Adding back employment expenses and business deductions that reduce taxable income but not actual cash flow
• Averaging income over the past three years if it fluctuates significantly (common for commission earners, contractors, and business owners)
• Imputing (attributing) income when a court finds someone is intentionally under-employed or has chosen not to work to their capacity
• Including pre-tax corporate earnings for a payor who controls a private company

This step is often where disputes arise. A salaried employee with a single T4 will have a straightforward income figure. A self-employed business owner may have income that looks very different on paper than in practice, and both sides may retain financial experts to form an opinion on what the true number should be.

Step 2 — Count the children

The table amount increases with each additional child who qualifies for support. Dependent children are generally those under 18, though the obligation can continue for an adult child who is enrolled full-time in school or who cannot achieve financial independence due to illness or disability.

Children from different relationships are not automatically combined into one calculation. Each obligation is assessed separately, though a court can consider existing support obligations when determining income.

Step 3 — Look up the table amount

With income and the number of children confirmed, you look up Ontario's column in the federal tables. The tables are published by the federal Department of Justice and are updated periodically — verify the current table at the time of your order, as the figures in this article reflect general principles rather than any specific dollar amount.

The result is the base monthly table amount — a single figure the payor transfers to the recipient every month.

What the Table Amount Covers (and Doesn't)

This is the part that surprises many parents. The table amount is designed to cover ordinary day-to-day expenses: food, clothing, shelter, basic recreation, and similar routine costs of raising a child. Think of it as covering the predictable, recurring budget of a household with children.

The table amount does not cover:

• Section 7 special or extraordinary expenses — these are shared on top of the table amount, in proportion to each parent's income. Common examples include child care needed so a parent can work or study, health and dental insurance premiums for the child, uninsured medical and dental costs, post-secondary education expenses, and extracurricular activities that are extraordinary in cost or nature.
• Expenses tied to parenting time arrangements — travel costs for parenting time, for example, are handled separately.

Section 7 expenses are not optional extras. They are a mandatory part of the child support framework. Each parent is typically required to contribute to these costs in proportion to their incomes, so a parent earning 60 percent of the combined household income pays 60 percent of a qualifying Section 7 expense.

When the Table Amount Can Change

The table amount is the starting point, but several situations allow for a different result:

• Split parenting arrangements — where each parent has decision-making responsibility for at least one child, the Guidelines allow for an offset calculation.
• Shared parenting time — where a child spends at least 40 percent of their time with each parent (as of writing — verify current threshold), a court has discretion to order an amount that differs from the straight table figure, taking into account the costs each parent actually incurs.
• Undue hardship — a parent can apply to pay less (or receive more) if strict application of the table would cause undue hardship, such as an unusually high debt load taken on for the benefit of the family, or the need to support a child from another relationship. This is a high threshold; courts do not grant it routinely.
• Child over the age of majority — the formula becomes more discretionary when the child is an adult, and a court looks at the actual expenses of post-secondary attendance and the child's own resources.

Frequently asked questions