CHILD SUPPORT - EASY OR HARD CALCULATION?

By Gerald Heinrichs

Child support is a fact of life for thousands of separated parents in Canada. Prior to 1997 calculating child support was often a complicated task. Back then, parents had to estimate living expenses and bring those figures to a judge but was a broad range of monetary awards from one court to the next.

In 1997 the Federal Government introduced the Federal Child Support Guidelines which have simplified the calculation process. In most cases, a wage-earning access parent pays a fixed amount of monthly child support according to two factors: level of income and the number of children. This "base support" is oftentimes supplemented with daycare and extra-curricular activities. Nonetheless, the overall calculation process is far simpler than pre-1997.

Various factors still exist, however, to complicate the system. For example, more and more parents today are co-parenting after separation. Under the Guidelines, a parent who cares for a child 40% of the time may be entitled to a reduction. Calculating that reduction though, can be a pesky process. In other cases, children remain dependants even after they are adults. Many parents find themselves paying support for over-18 children attending university or technical schools. Here again, there is some complexity in calculating child support.

In 2005, a majority of separated parents can still calculate their child support with ease. In other cases though, pitfalls lurk. Nevertheless, if you are uncertain about your entitlement then call an experienced family law lawyer and get some advice.