Our Free Child Support Calculator
Determining child support – the regular payment made by one parent to another following separation or divorce – has long had the reputation of being a confusing, frustrating process.
Until now.
Our Child Support Calculator, launched in the summer of 2020 and available for use anywhere in Canada, is a valuable tool to take the complication out of the child support equation.
How complicated is it?
In Canada, the basis for contribution can be found in the Child Support Guidelines. Although these federal tables outline support due for various income levels and numbers of children, the sums differ in each province depending on shared parenting time and whether a child is primarily in the care of one parent. If the child support payor is an employee, line 1500 (previously line 150) of the payor’s tax return is used to calculate their contribution. Sound straightforward? It is. The child support waters get a little muddier, however, if the payor is a business owner.
When a parent operates a business, the starting point for the calculation of child support is the net revenue of the business after expenses, but before taxes. While arguments can be made to remove some expenses if they are providing the parent with personal benefits, doing so will increase the income accessible for contribution. On the contrary, if business income fluctuates, arguments can be made to average the income over time or, if a business requires retained earnings for operation, to reduce the amount of available child support. And then there are additional complexities when the business has multiple shareholders or a parent owns one or more businesses. In such circumstances, an accountant can assist.
So, what will our Child Support Calculator do for you?
Used anywhere in Canada, it will calculate child support from employment income. It can also provide support calculations when parents are in different provinces. And it works for both shared parenting and primary parenting situations. When one parent is a business owner? Regrettably, no child support calculator, including our own, can provide an accurate assessment of child support in that scenario – to get an accurate picture, a family lawyer should be consulted.
To help make sense of your child support dollars, visit our Child Support Calculator and have a chat with our Legal Navigator at Coach My Case to get started.
