Child Support in BC: The Complete Guide

The single most important idea on this page: child support is the child’s right, not the parent’s. It is not compensation to the other parent, it is not a fee for parenting time, and it is not something either adult owns outright.

That has a practical consequence. Because the money belongs to the child, parents cannot simply contract it away. A court can look past an agreement that leaves a child under-supported and can order the shortfall paid — sometimes years later. An agreement that trades away support for something else, such as a share of the house, is one of the least durable things you can sign.

It also means support is not conditional. It does not stop because parenting time is being denied, because the other parent has repartnered, or because you disagree with how the money is spent.

In the ordinary case, the parent with less parenting time pays the parent with more. Both parents have an obligation to support their children financially; the Guidelines assume the parent the children live with most is already meeting theirs directly, day to day.

Support obligations can also extend beyond biological parents. A step-parent who contributed to a child’s support during the relationship can be liable for support in BC, though a step-parent’s obligation is generally secondary to that of the biological parents and takes into account how long the relationship lasted. Guardianship, parentage and step-parent liability are all worth specific advice — see the full range of family law issues.

British Columbia uses the Federal Child Support Guidelines, including for parents who were never married. The process runs in five steps.

1. 1

   Determine the payor's annual income

   Normally the total income line of the most recent tax return, adjusted where necessary — for example to add back certain deductions, or to account for self-employment, dividends or a bonus structure.

2. 2

   Find the table amount

   The Federal Child Support Guidelines tables set a monthly figure based on that income, the number of children, and the province where the paying parent lives. This is the base amount.

3. 3

   Adjust for the parenting arrangement

   If each parent has the children at least 40% of the time over the year, or if the children are split between households, a different calculation applies instead of the straight table amount.

4. 4

   Add a share of special expenses

   Childcare, medical and dental premiums, significant health costs, post-secondary tuition and certain extracurricular costs are added on top and shared between the parents in proportion to their incomes.

5. 5

   Put it in an agreement or order

   Record the income figures used, the table amount, the special expenses and the annual disclosure obligation in a written separation agreement or a court order, so the number can be updated and enforced.

The table amount is a monthly figure published by the federal government and updated periodically, so always work from the current tables rather than a number a friend remembers. Our free tools page links the official lookup and includes a parenting-time percentage calculator, which matters for the next step.

This is where most real disputes live. For an employee with a T4 and nothing complicated, income is close to the total income line of the tax return and the exercise takes minutes. It becomes contested when income is not straightforward:

• Self-employment and corporations. Personal expenses run through a business, and earnings retained inside a company rather than paid out, can both be brought back into the support calculation.
• Variable pay. Bonuses, commissions and overtime often need to be averaged over several years rather than taken from a single strong or weak year.
• Imputed income. Where a parent is intentionally unemployed or under-employed without good reason, or simply will not disclose, a court can assign them an income and calculate support on that figure instead.
• Non-disclosure. Refusing to produce documents rarely works. It invites an imputed income, an adverse inference and often a costs award.

Build annual disclosure into your agreement. A clause requiring both parents to exchange tax returns each year, with support adjusted automatically, prevents the most common and most expensive fight of all — discovering years later that the payor’s income doubled. More on disclosure.

The table amount is meant to cover ordinary living costs. Certain additional expenses — known as section 7 or special and extraordinary expenses — are added on top and shared between the parents in proportion to their incomes, after accounting for any contribution the child can make and any tax benefit or subsidy.

Two tests run through all of them: the expense has to be necessary in light of the child’s best interests, and reasonable in light of the parents’ means and the family’s spending patterns before separation. That second test is why a hockey program that was normal for one family can be extraordinary for another.

Agree in advance how these are approved. A clause requiring consultation before either parent commits to a large expense heads off most section 7 arguments before they start.

Two arrangements change the calculation entirely.

• Shared parenting. Where each parent has the children at least 40% of the time over the course of a year, the straight table amount no longer applies on its own. The usual starting point is a set-off — the difference between what each parent would owe the other — but the court then also looks at the increased costs of running two full households and at each family’s circumstances. A set-off is a starting point, not an entitlement, and equal time with unequal incomes still commonly produces a payment. How the 40% threshold works.
• Split parenting. Where each parent has the primary care of at least one child, each parent’s obligation to the other is calculated and the difference is paid.

Because the 40% line has real financial consequences, it also attracts strategic behaviour. Courts are alert to a parent seeking time primarily to reduce support, and the legal test for the schedule itself remains only the best interests of the child. Count time honestly: our parenting-time calculator works it out on an annual basis.

Support does not end on a birthday. It continues while a child remains unable to become independent — most commonly because they are enrolled in post-secondary education, or because of illness or disability.

For a child in university or college, the amount is often calculated differently from the plain table figure. The court can take into account the child’s own income, student loans, scholarships, whether they are living at home or away, and a reasonable expectation that the child contributes something toward their own education. How this works for part-time and post-secondary students.

Support is meant to track income, and incomes move. A support amount can be varied where there has been a material change in circumstances — a job loss, a significant raise, a change to the parenting schedule, a child finishing school.

The critical practical point: apply promptly. Support does not reduce itself because your income fell. If you stop paying and apply a year later, you are asking a court to cancel arrears that already exist, which is a much harder application than adjusting support at the time. Reducing arrears once they exist.

Where both parents agree on the new figure, the change can usually be documented without a court application — through a written agreement, and through mediation if you need help getting to the number. See how mediation works.

Retroactive support is an award covering a period that has already passed — most often where the payor’s income rose and nobody adjusted the amount, or where support was never set in the first place.

Courts weigh several factors in deciding how far back to go: whether there was a reasonable excuse for the delay in asking, the conduct of the payor (concealing income or discouraging the claim counts heavily against them), the circumstances of the child during that period, and whether a large retroactive award would cause hardship. As a rough guide, awards commonly reach back about three years from the date the issue was first properly raised — but blameworthy conduct can extend that considerably, and the Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that a claim can succeed even after the child is grown.

The practical lesson is the same in both directions. If you are owed support, raise it in writing now — the date you first ask matters more than almost anything else. If your income has risen, disclose it. Full guide to retroactive support.

An unpaid support order or agreement is enforceable. In British Columbia the usual route is the BC Family Maintenance Agency — the Crown agency that now delivers what was long known as the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program, and which you will still hear called FMEP. Enrolment is free, and its collection tools include attachments and liens against wages, bank accounts and property, restrictions and cancellations affecting things such as licences, and court action.

Enforcement through the courts is also possible, and where the non-payment sits alongside a breach of other orders you may be dealing with more than a money problem — see what to do when court orders are ignored.

• The handshake deal. Informal arrangements with no written record and no income figures are the leading cause of arrears disputes. Write it down, including the incomes used.
• Waiting to raise it. In retroactive claims, the date you first asked in writing is often the date the award runs from. A short email is enough to fix that date.
• Self-help reductions. Cutting payments unilaterally after a job loss creates arrears and damages your credibility. Apply to vary instead.
• Trading support for property. Giving up child support in exchange for the house or a lump sum is unenforceable in substance — the support claim can come back.
• Mixing child and spousal support. They have different tests and opposite tax treatments. A single blended figure creates problems with the CRA and with any later variation. Keep them separate and clearly labelled — more on the tax side.
• No review clause. Without an annual disclosure and adjustment clause, the amount silently goes stale, and someone ends up litigating years of difference.

Everything we have written that touches child support, grouped by the question you are actually trying to answer.

Working through a separation more broadly? Start with Divorce in BC: The Complete Guide and Separation Agreements in BC, or browse the full blog archive. We also offer family law services in Punjabi.