Can a Stepparent Be Required to Pay Child Support in Alberta?

You may have helped raise a child for years, then the relationship ended. Now you are wondering whether you can be asked to pay support, or whether you can ask a stepparent for it.

The answer is not automatic in either direction. This article explains the general rule, how the amount is approached, and what usually matters. A lawyer can tell you how it applies to your family.

This article covers the law of Alberta.

When a stepparent can be ordered to pay

The child support rules contain a special provision for a spouse who stands in the place of a parent for a child. In that situation, the court sets the amount it considers appropriate, having regard to the Guidelines and to any other parent's legal duty to support the child.

In plain words, being a stepparent does not by itself decide the question. What matters is whether the stepparent took on the role of a parent. In these cases the court sets the amount it considers appropriate rather than simply applying the plain table amount. How a court views your situation depends on the facts, and a lawyer can help you assess them.

How the amount is approached

For a stepparent, the court is not tied to the plain table amount. It sets what it considers appropriate, while looking at the Guidelines and the legal duty of any other parent.

For a biological or adoptive parent, the starting point is different. The order for a child under the age of majority is the applicable table amount plus any special or extraordinary expenses. Table amounts are driven by the payer's annual income, the number of children and the payer's province.

Which law applies

Divorcing spouses are under the Divorce Act, and the Federal Child Support Guidelines apply unless both are habitually resident in a province designated by order. Unmarried, separated-but-not-divorced and adult interdependent partners proceed under Alberta's Family Law Act and the Alberta Child Support Guidelines.

Alberta's guidelines adopt the federal tables, so the table amounts are the same under both. The stepparent rule is in the federal Guidelines. How the equivalent Alberta wording reads is worth confirming with a lawyer.

Extra expenses and fairness

On a spouse's request, the court may add amounts for child care, the child's share of medical or dental insurance premiums, certain health expenses, extraordinary school or extracurricular costs and post-secondary education. These are generally shared in proportion to each spouse's income, after deducting any contribution from the child.

The court must also take into account subsidies, benefits and tax deductions or credits relating to the expense. If paying the amount would cause undue hardship, the court may award a different amount, though a hardship claim must be denied if the claiming spouse's household would have a higher standard of living than the other household.

What to do next

• Write down when the relationship began and ended, and what role you played in the child's daily life.
• Gather the recent income tax returns and notices of assessment you have, because income documents for the three most recent taxation years are part of a child support application.
• Find out whether a biological or adoptive parent is already supporting the child.
• Note whether you were married, because that affects which law applies.
• If an order exists, ask about registering it with the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP).

Either the payor or the recipient may register with MEP, and only one needs to. There must be a filed court order or eligible agreement that sets an enforceable amount. Speak with a lawyer before assuming a stepparent will or will not be responsible.

Frequently asked questions