How to Use the British Columbia Child Support Table Step by Step

A child support table can look like a wall of numbers. Once you know which three details to match, it takes only a few minutes to find a figure.

This guide walks through the steps with a worked example, then explains when the number you find is only a starting point.

This article covers the law of British Columbia.

Before you open the table

You need three pieces of information. The table amounts are in Schedule I of the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

• The payor's province of habitual residence, which is British Columbia if the payor lives there.
• The number of children the support is for.
• The payor's annual income, based on the Total income heading of the T1 General tax form, adjusted under Schedule III.

The recipient's income is not needed to find the table amount. If both parents agree in writing on a parent's annual income, the court may accept that amount if it is reasonable given the income information required under section 21 of the Guidelines.

Income is not always as simple as one line on a tax return. For a self-employed payor or someone who owns a corporation, the court may include all or part of the corporation's pre-tax income. The court may also impute income, for example where a parent is intentionally under-employed or unemployed. How this applies depends on your situation, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer or accountant.

Step by step

• Choose the British Columbia table.
• Pick the section for your number of children, such as one, two or three.
• Find the income row in $1,000 steps that matches the payor's income.
• Take the row's basic amount, which is a monthly figure.
• Add the percentage shown for that row, applied to income over the row's floor figure.

Only sample rows are reproduced here, so look up your exact row in the official table on the Justice Laws website. The current table figures took effect with the amendment of 2025-10-01, and earlier versions had lower amounts.

A worked example

The Guidelines give this BC example: two children and $51,250 of income. The $51,000 row has a basic amount of $807 plus 1.54% of the income above the row's floor. That works out to $807 plus 1.54% × ($51,250 − $51,000), which comes to $810.85 a month.

Some sample rows show the pattern. For one child, the $50,000 row is $468 plus 0.94% over $50,000, and the $75,000 row is $708 plus 0.96% over $75,000. For two children, the $100,000 row is $1,549 plus 1.5% over $100,000. For three children, the $150,000 or greater row is $2,881 plus 1.66% over $150,000.

When the table figure is not the final answer

The table amount plus any section 7 expense amount is the presumptive amount. These situations can move it:

On a parent's request, the court may add section 7 expenses, such as child care expenses related to employment, illness, disability or education or training for employment, and health-related expenses that exceed insurance reimbursement by at least $100 annually. School and extracurricular costs count only if they are extraordinary, meaning they exceed what the requesting parent can reasonably cover, so ordinary-sized costs are not added. Any amount added is shared in proportion to the parents' incomes.

Keeping the amount current

For a table-based order, a change of circumstances is any change that would result in a different child support order. The BC Child Support Recalculation Service reviews eligible orders and agreements each year, using the paying parent's income tax information and the Guidelines tables, so a court application is not always needed.

A court can also change, suspend or terminate an order under the Family Law Act, but only if it is satisfied of a qualifying change in circumstances, substantial new evidence, or a lack of financial disclosure. Under the Divorce Act, the court must be satisfied that a change of circumstances provided for in the applicable guidelines has occurred.

What to do next

• Confirm the payor's income from tax documents, not memory.
• Look up the exact row and write down the calculation.
• List add-on expenses separately from the table amount.
• If an exception may apply, such as shared parenting or high income, ask a lawyer how it could affect your case.

Frequently asked questions