Do You Still Pay Child Support If Your Child Moves Out Before 19 in BC?

Many parents in British Columbia find that a 16- or 17-year-old has moved out, sometimes to a friend's home, a relative's, or their own place. If you pay child support, it is natural to ask whether the payments should stop. If you receive support, you may wonder what happens to it.

The answer depends on why the child left, whether they are still in your care in a legal sense, and what your order or agreement says. This article explains the general rules, the exceptions, and why you should not stop paying on your own.

This article covers the law of British Columbia.

The starting point: a duty to support, usually until 19

Under the BC Family Law Act, each parent and guardian of a child has a duty to provide support for the child. BC government guidance says that duty generally continues until the child turns 19, although support can end earlier or later depending on the child's circumstances.

So age 19 is a baseline, not a guarantee in either direction. A move out before 19 raises the question of whether the child is still the kind of child who is owed support.

When a child under 19 leaves voluntarily

A child under 19 who has voluntarily withdrawn from the parents' or guardians' charge is not owed support. The idea is that support is tied to the child being in your care, not just to their age.

There are important limits to that rule. Each of these can change the result:

• If the child left because of family violence or objectively intolerable circumstances, the rule does not apply and support can still be owed.
• If the child returns to the parents' or guardians' charge, the duty to support resumes.
• A child who is a spouse is not owed support under s. 147(1).

Whether a child left "voluntarily" is often disputed. A teenager who storms out after an argument is in a different position from one who left because home was unsafe. A lawyer can help you assess how the facts fit.

An existing order or agreement does not end by itself

Even if the law would not require support for a child who has left, an existing order does not stop automatically. A court may change, suspend or terminate a child support order, going forward or back in time, but only on application.

Before it does so under the Family Law Act, the court must be satisfied of a change in circumstances under the guidelines, substantial new evidence that was unavailable at the earlier hearing, or evidence of a lack of financial disclosure discovered after the last order. Under the Divorce Act, the court must be satisfied that a change of circumstances provided for in the guidelines has occurred, and it may vary retroactively or prospectively.

Parents also cannot simply agree that support is not owed. BC guidance says a parent cannot make an agreement saying the other parent does not have to pay child support, because support is the child's legal right.

Why you should not just stop paying

Child support and parenting time are separate issues. A paying parent cannot withhold support because of problems with parenting time or contact, and a parent cannot refuse parenting time because support is behind.

If your order or agreement is enrolled with the BC Family Maintenance Agency (BCFMA), the director must enforce a filed order where necessary and practicable. Enforcement tools include notices of attachment to people who owe money to the debtor, default hearings, and simple interest on arrears. Where arrears total $3,000 or more, the director may act so that ICBC cancels the debtor's driver's licence, though the notice must be disregarded in specified cases such as a satisfactory payment arrangement.

In short, unpaid amounts can keep building until a court changes the order. If the child has moved out, apply to change it rather than stopping on your own.

If the child moves to the other parent instead

If a child moves to the other parent's home, how the rules apply depends on your situation, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer. The amount is generally the table amount for the payor's province plus any section 7 expenses. The table is based on the payor's income, so a switch in who the payor is, or a move to shared parenting, can change the result. If each parent has at least 40% of parenting time over a year, the court must consider the table amount for each parent, the increased costs of shared arrangements, and each parent's circumstances.

If the Guidelines apply and the change would result in a different order, that counts as a change of circumstances for a table-based order. The BC Child Support Recalculation Service also reviews eligible orders each year using the paying parent's income tax information.

What to do next

• Write down when and why the child left, and where they are living now.
• Keep paying under the order until a court changes it, because an existing order does not end on its own.
• Gather your order or agreement and any BCFMA enrolment documents.
• Collect messages or records that show the reasons the child left, especially if safety was a concern.
• Speak with a lawyer about applying to change, suspend or end the order, and whether backdating is realistic.

Frequently asked questions