How Spousal Support Is Calculated in Alberta Using the SSAG

Many separating spouses want one answer: how much will I pay or receive each month? A tool that often comes up is the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines, or SSAG, which are not law but which judges often base their spousal support decisions on.

This article explains what the SSAG are, how they fit with Alberta law, and what drives the amount and duration. It cannot give you a number, because that depends on your incomes, your family and your history.

This article covers the law of Alberta.

The SSAG are guidelines, not law

The Department of Justice Canada says the SSAG are not law, but judges often base their spousal support decisions on them, and lawyers also use them when advising and drafting agreements.

The law itself is in the Divorce Act for divorcing spouses and the Family Law Act for other spouses and adult interdependent partners. Both ask the court to consider each person's condition, means, needs and other circumstances.

Entitlement comes before any formula

The SSAG do not decide whether you are entitled to support. Entitlement must be established first, and if there is none the formulas do not apply. An income gap alone is not enough.

• Compensatory support responds to economic loss or disadvantage from marital roles, such as child care or supporting a spouse's career.
• Non-compensatory support responds to need or a drop in the marital standard of living.
• Contractual support arises from an agreement.

After a short marriage with limited financial interdependence and an income disparity, courts have found no entitlement.

The two formulas and their income inputs

For marriages of 25 years or more under the without-child-support formula, the range is 37.5 to 50 per cent of the gross income difference. The basic range builds at roughly 1.5 to 2 per cent of the gross income difference per year of marriage, and the recipient should never end up with more than 50 per cent of the spouses' net disposable income.

Because the result is a range, where you land within it depends on facts such as the other factors the court must weigh.

How long support lasts

• Support is indefinite, meaning no end date but subject to variation and review, when the relationship is 20 years or longer, or under the rule of 65. The rule of 65 means years of relationship plus the recipient's age at separation equals or exceeds 65, and it does not apply to marriages under 5 years.
• Outside those cases, the without-child-support formula generally generates time limits, although medium-length marriages (under 20 years) often start indefinite, with time limits considered later.
• With child support, duration is set by the length-of-marriage test and the age-of-children test, and the longer applies.
• Initial orders under the with-child formula are usually indefinite, with time limits typically coming later on variation or review.

Indefinite is not permanent. Support may be reduced or ended if self-sufficiency is reached, and courts may use review orders, step-down orders or time limits.

Which law applies and what else matters

The Divorce Act covers married couples seeking a divorce, and a spouse under it includes a former spouse. Married spouses who are not seeking a divorce can still claim spousal support under the Family Law Act, while unmarried partners cannot use the Divorce Act.

Unmarried former partners may owe or be owed Adult Interdependent Partner Support if they lived in an interdependent relationship for at least three continuous years or share a natural or adopted child, although having a child together does not in itself give rise to entitlement.

• Misconduct: under the Divorce Act the court shall not consider misconduct in relation to the marriage. Under the Family Law Act misconduct is generally not considered, except conduct that arbitrarily or unreasonably precipitates, prolongs or aggravates the need for support, or unreasonably affects the payer's ability to pay.
• Child support: when both are claimed, the court gives priority to child support under both laws.
• Interim support: a court can make an interim support order while the main application is being decided.
• Collection: unless the parties agree or the court orders otherwise, the Maintenance Enforcement Program collects and enforces these payments in Alberta.

Retirement and repartnering can also come up later. Where an order or agreement is silent, retirement is usually treated as a material change, but early or voluntary retirement is looked at closely. A recipient's remarriage or repartnering is a complicating factor, not an automatic end to support. How this applies depends on your order and your situation, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer.

What to do next

• Collect several years of tax returns and current income details for both spouses.
• Write down the length of the relationship, your ages at separation and any career sacrifices during it.
• Note whether child support is also being claimed, since that decides which formula is relevant.
• Gather any agreements or orders about support.
• Ask a family lawyer to run the numbers and explain where in the range your situation may fall.

Frequently asked questions