Child Support

Yes. Child support obligations in BC apply to all parents, whether they were married, in a common-law relationship, or never lived together at all. What matters is the parental relationship, not the relationship between the adults. If you have a child together, support obligations exist.

You can agree to an amount, but it needs to meet the minimum set by the Guidelines. A court will not enforce a child support agreement that falls below the table amount without a good reason. Parents cannot contract out of the Guidelines to the detriment of the children. If your situation is unusual and you believe a departure from the Guidelines is appropriate, talk to a lawyer before you finalize anything.

The federal government publishes child support tables that are publicly available online. You can look up an amount based on the paying parent's gross income and the number of children. What the tables cannot tell you is how income is calculated for a self-employed parent, a parent with variable income, or a parent who is hiding income. That is where a lawyer earns their fee. If the numbers are straightforward, the calculation is simple. If someone's income is complicated, you need professional help.

Without knowing the exact incomes, we cannot give you a number here, but the general approach is this: take the Guidelines table amount as if you were the only paying parent, then subtract what the other parent would owe if the situation were reversed. The difference is typically what you pay. That said, courts also have discretion in shared parenting arrangements to depart from a strict set-off if it would be inappropriate given the circumstances. A consultation with one of our lawyers will give you a realistic picture based on your actual numbers.

The end result is similar: a binding decision you are required to follow. The difference is who is in charge of the process. In court, the judge sets the agenda, the schedule, and the rules. In arbitration, you and your ex (through your lawyers) have far more say in how the process unfolds. You choose the arbitrator, often someone with deep family law expertise. You set the timeline. You define what issues are in scope. It tends to be faster, more private, and more predictable than court.

A teenager's preference carries weight in parenting arrangement decisions, particularly as they get older. The Family Law Act in BC requires that children's views and preferences be considered, with weight given based on their age and maturity. If a parenting arrangement changes as a result of a child's preference, that can in turn affect the child support calculation. Support follows the arrangement. If the arrangement shifts meaningfully, support should be revisited.

Not automatically. Private school fees can qualify as a Section 7 expense, but they are not automatically included. A court will look at whether private school is necessary to meet the child's needs, what the family's financial situation is, and whether both parents agree or agreed at some point. If you are being asked to contribute to a school you did not choose and cannot afford, that is worth getting legal advice on before you agree to anything or before an order is made.

They get revisited. Child care costs change as children get older. Extracurricular activities change. Post-secondary costs arrive eventually. Section 7 expenses should be built into your separation agreement in a way that creates a clear process for handling new expenses as they arise, rather than requiring you to negotiate each one from scratch. A good agreement will set out how expenses are shared, how they are documented, and what happens when parents disagree.

Self-employment income is one of the most frequently disputed issues in child support matters. The Guidelines require disclosure of financial documents, including tax returns, corporate financial statements, and business records. A lawyer can help you request proper disclosure, and if the numbers still do not add up, there are ways to challenge them, including by asking a court to impute income. You are not required to simply accept what your ex reports.

Child support can be varied when circumstances change materially. A job loss, a promotion, a new business, retirement, a significant pay cut: any of these can be grounds to revisit the support amount. The obligation does not disappear when income drops, but it can be adjusted. The key is that the change needs to be real and ongoing, not temporary. And the process for varying support requires either an agreement between the parents or a court order. You cannot unilaterally reduce what you pay.

It can. Once a child reaches the age of majority, whether support continues depends on whether they are still a dependent. A child in full-time post-secondary education is generally still considered a dependent under BC law, meaning the support obligation does not simply end. The amount and how it is paid can look different for a university student than for a younger child, and post-secondary costs themselves may be addressed as a Section 7 expense. This is worth sorting out before your child starts school, not after.

It depends on how the agreement was made and what it says. An informal agreement, a text message, a verbal arrangement, even a written document that was not properly drafted, may not be enforceable as written. And if the amount is below what the Guidelines require, a court could override it regardless. If you have an informal arrangement that has been working, that is a good sign. But it is worth having a lawyer review it to make sure it will hold up and that both of you are protected if circumstances change.

No. Child support belongs to the child, not to the parents. Parents cannot waive a child's right to support on the child's behalf. A court will not enforce an agreement that purports to waive child support entirely, because that agreement is not in the child's best interests. Parents can agree to specific amounts and arrangements within the Guidelines, but they cannot agree to nothing.

There are real enforcement mechanisms available to you. In BC, the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program (FMEP) is a provincial program that can enforce child support orders. They have tools including wage garnishment, seizure of tax refunds, suspension of driver's licences and passports, and reporting to credit bureaus. You do not need to chase your ex yourself. Registering with FMEP puts the enforcement machinery to work on your behalf. A lawyer can help you register and advise you on next steps if the arrears are significant.

It can. Child support is calculated based on the actual parenting arrangement, not necessarily what is written in an old order. If the arrangement has changed significantly, the support amount should reflect that. An order that no longer matches reality is one that should be updated, both to reflect the parenting arrangement and to ensure the support amount is correct. Living with an outdated order creates problems for both parents.

If your income has genuinely changed, or if the original calculation was incorrect, yes, you can apply to vary the support order. Child support is meant to reflect current circumstances. If you are paying an amount based on income you no longer earn, that is a real problem worth addressing. What you cannot do is unilaterally reduce what you pay without a court order or a written agreement from the other parent. Pay what is ordered while you pursue the variation, and get legal advice on how to move the application forward efficiently.

You do not need to litigate. But you do need to get it right, and getting it right is harder than it looks. The Guidelines seem simple until you factor in self-employment income, shared parenting percentages, Section 7 expenses, and what happens when things change. A lawyer can review your situation, confirm the numbers are correct, and help you put together an agreement that holds up. We see far more conflict arise from poorly drafted agreements than from situations that had good legal advice at the start.