Written by: Naa Lansana
The Federal Child Support Guidelines (Guidelines) were updated on October 1, 2025 to align with recent tax regulations. The previous update occurred in 2017. Before 1997, child support payments were not standardized, but since then, a predictable system has been in place for payors with regular employment and ascertainable incomes.
In Ontario, there is a legal obligation to financially support dependent children. Child support is considered the “right of the child”, and at separation, is generally paid to the parent with primary care. However, in specific cases, support may be paid directly to children over 18. The Guidelines are presumptively applied, with special considerations for children over the age of majority and for payors with incomes exceeding $150,000.00.
As a regulation to the Divorce Act, the Guidelines include a table that specifies the support amount a payor parent must provide to a recipient parent. The amount is influenced by the payor’s income, the number of children and the parenting arrangement. In shared parenting situations, where one parent has the child at least 40% of the time, a set-off amount is paid. It is important to note that child support is neither tax-deductible for the payor nor taxable for the recipient. Similar legislation in Ontario, enacted as a regulation to the Family Law Act, mirrors the federal table.
The objectives of the Guidelines include:
- Establishing a fair standard of support so that children benefit from the financial means of their parents following separation;
- Making the determination of support more objective thereby reducing conflict;
- Improving the efficiency of the legal process through providing guidelines to courts and parties and further encouraging settlement; and
- Ensuring that there is consistent treatment of spouses and children in comparable circumstances.
In order to determine the amount of child support owed between November 22, 2017 and September 30, 2025 the 2017 Federal Child Support Tables should be used. Despite the updates to the Guidelines, orders that were previously made prior to October 1, 2025 will not automatically apply. Nonetheless, recipient parents could seek to have the updated table amounts apply.
