Child Support

Child support is the money one parent pays to another to support their children.  This money is used to help cover the costs of raising a child, including:

  • food
  • clothing
  • housing
  • everyday needs

Parents pay child support because children have the right to financial assistance from both their parents.

Children under the age of majority are always entitled to support, whether or not their parents are married. In New Brunswick the age of majority is 19 years.

When parents separate, one of them will often have to pay child support. The parent who pays child support is called the payer. The parent who receives child support is called the recipient.

Usually when the children live with one parent at least 60% of the time, that parent is the recipient. The other parent is the payer, who pays child support based on their own income. When each parent lives with the children at least 60-40% of the time, child support can be calculated differently. For more information, see “Calculating Child Support” below.

Although they are separate legal issues, parents often apply for decision-making responsibility, parenting time, and child support at the same time. It is usually best to deal with these matters as early as possible.

Child support obligations apply to more than just biological parents. For example, a step-parent may pay child support in some cases. Anyone who took the role of a parent and supported a child financially may have a responsibility to pay support.

If you believe your child’s other parent should be paying child support, you have options to establish payments. You can to this by:

  • Making an agreement: Sometimes it is possible to work out an agreement for child support on your own. You and the other parent can use the Federal Child Support Guidelines to find out how much a judge would probably order. Each parent should take the agreement to a lawyer before they sign it. You can read more on our page about domestic contracts.
  • Going through mediation: You can go to a mediator for help working out a child support agreement. The mediator will meet with both of you and help work out an arrangement you can both accept. The mediator does not offer legal advice.
  • Getting legal advice: If you and the other parent cannot agree, you can ask a lawyer for help. Each parent should hire a separate lawyer. The lawyers may be able to negotiate support payments that you can both accept. If you want to participate in non-confrontational approach, you can look for lawyers who practice collaborative law.
  • Applying for a court order: If you still cannot reach an agreement with the other parent, you can apply to the court for a child support order. A judge will look at the documents filed by both parents and hear verbal evidence, if any. The judge must follow the Federal Child Support Guidelines to calculate payments except in very specific cases. You can find out more about applying to court in our section Going to Court.

Child support payments follow a set of rules called the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

The general, standard amount of child support is therefore called the table amount. Usually, courts and parents start with the table amount when calculating child support. You can use this Child Support Table Look-up tool to calculate the table amount in your situation.

According to the Guidelines, the table amount of child support is based on a few things, including:

  • the parenting arrangement,
  • the number of children,
  • the payer’s annual income, and
  • the province the payer lives in.

The parenting arrangement

Usually, parents pay child support based on who the children live with.

You may have a responsibility to pay the table amount of child support if the children live with you less than 40% of the time.

When the children live with each parent between 40-60% of the time, this is called joint or shared parenting time.  When each parent has at least one of the children living with them 60% of the time or more, this is called split parenting time. Each of these arrangements can affect the way you calculate child support. You may still have a responsibility to pay support, but the amount may be different than the table amount. You can find out more by reading step 6 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines: Step-by-Step and by reading “Adjusting the Table Amount” below.

Calculating income

When child support is part of any court application, the court will ask each parent to provide:

  • financial statements,
  • tax returns (usually three years)
  • the last three months’ pay stubs, or statements from income assistance or employment insurance

If you refuse to provide financial statements and proof of income, the court will proceed anyway. They can:

  • Order you to provide the information
  • Punish you by ordering you to pay the other parent’s legal costs
  • Impute your income. This means they will calculate child support based on an income the court decides for you.

Generally, the Guidelines do not consider the income of other adults in your household like new spouses or common-law partners. The amount you must contribute is set according to your own annual income. There are some exceptions to this, like when a parent claims undue hardship – you can read more about this below.

Sometimes, child support needs to be adjusted from the table amount. The Federal Child Support Guidelines set the standard amount. Payments may differ from that amount because:

  • There are special expenses for the child
  • The parents have split or shared parenting time
  • The child is still a dependent, but is over the age of majority
  • The payer’s annual income is over $150,000
  • The court finds that the table amount would cause the payer undue hardship

You can find more detailed information in The Federal Child Support Guidelines: Step-by-Step.

Special expenses

Some child support payments also include special expenses added to the table amount. Special expenses are covered in section 7 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines. Something may be a special expense if it is:

  • Necessary and in the child’s best interests, and
  • Reasonable given the parents’ incomes and ability to pay

Some costs that are often considered special expenses include:

  • Childcare expenses
  • Medical and dental costs, including insurance premiums
  • Expenses for a child’s education, like a tutor the child needs
  • Expenses for extra-curricular activities that are important and necessary for the child’s development
  • Expenses for post-secondary education

Special expenses are usually divided between parents in proportion to their incomes. The payer’s share is added to the table amount and included with the child support payments.

You can also negotiate special expenses out of court and agree on other arrangements if you both agree it is fair. If you cannot agree, you can ask the court to decide if the special expenses are necessary and reasonable.

For more information, see step 7 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines Step-by-Step.

Split or shared parenting time

If you have split or shared parenting time, you might calculate child support differently.

Each of you should look at the child support tables to see what your table amount payment would be.

  • For split parenting time, this means calculating based on how many children live with the other parent most of the time.
  • For shared parenting time, this means calculating as though your children lived with the other parent most of the time, rather than equally with both of you.

Each of you should look up your own table amounts this way. If there is a difference between your two table amounts, usually whoever has the highest amount pays only the difference.

The government of Canada has some examples of how different families might do these calculations.

Children over the age of majority

The age of majority in New Brunswick is 19.

Your responsibility to pay child support does not always end when your child reaches the age of majority. Child support may continue if your child is still a dependent. A child might be dependent because of illness, disability, or post-secondary schooling.

While child support might continue in these situations, the court can also adjust the table amount if the child is over the age of majority.  The court will consider whether it is appropriate to adjust the amount of child support in your situation. The judge will consider things like

  • the child’s needs and circumstances
  • each parent’s ability to contribute to the child’s needs.

You can learn more about child support for children over the age of majority here.

Undue hardship

You can apply to the court to adjust the table amount if you can show that it would cause you undue hardship. See more below.

Undue hardship is covered in section 10 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

You can ask the court to raise or lower the table amount of child support if you can show it would cause you undue hardship. Either the payer or the recipient can claim undue hardship, but you must show the court that your situation justifies it.

You can read more about undue hardship in step 8 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines Step-by-Step.

Proving undue hardship

You can only prove undue hardship if you can show the court two things:

1. Your circumstances cause undue hardship

To show your circumstances cause undue hardship, if must be difficult :

  1. For the payer: to pay the full table amount, or
  2. For the recipient: to support the child on just the table amount

The Child Support Guidelines list some circumstances that might show this is the case. For example:

  • You took on an unusually high amount of family debt when you separated from the other parent
  • It costs you a significant amount of money to spend time with the child (for example, travel and accommodations)
  • You have a legal responsibility to support children from another relationship
  • You have a legal responsibility to support a dependent adult

2. Your standard of living is lower than the other parent’s

When one of you claims undue hardship, the court will consider the standards of living in both your households. This includes considering the incomes of all adults living in your household, like a new spouse or common-law partner. The court will also consider how many children and other dependents are living in your household.

Generally, the court will only adjust the table amount if you can show that the standard of living in your household would be lower than the other parent’s household.

The court may choose to adjust the table amount if you can show these two things explained above. It is up to the court to decide if it would be reasonable in your circumstances.

When circumstances change, the child support payments may need to change to reflect that. You might need to re-evaluate child support if:

  • The payer’s income changes significantly.
  • The parenting arrangement changes. For example, the children now live with a different parent, or the parents now share parenting time 50/50.
  • The child has reached the age of majority and is no longer a dependent.

If circumstances change, you can

  • Make a new agreement by discussing the change with the other parent, or
  • Apply to the court to change the payments. This is called a variation.

Child support does not automatically change or end. Court orders do not expire. You and the other parent can, however, agree to stop enforcing the child support payments. If you don’t agree, the Office of Support Enforcement will continue to enforce the payments until you provide them with a new court order.

PLEIS NB has a guide explaining how to change a child support order. Please note that if you are applying to the court in the judicial districts of Moncton or Saint John, the process is different than the one explained in our guide. If you are applying in one of those regions, contact the Family Law Information Centers located in the courthouse.