1. Which Child Support Guidelines Apply in Alberta?

2. The Basic Child Support Calculation

3. Step One: Determine the Parenting Arrangement

4. Step Two: Determine Guideline Income

5. Step Three: Find the Applicable Table Amount

6. Step Four: Add Special or Extraordinary Expenses

7. How Section 7 Expenses Are Shared

8. What About Adult Children?

9. Can Parents Agree to a Different Amount?

10. Financial Disclosure and Annual Updates

11. Retroactive Child Support

12. Does a New Partner’s Income Affect Child Support?

13. Undue Hardship

14. Common Child Support Calculation Mistakes

15. When to Speak With a Family Lawyer

16. How Bridgestone Law Can Help

    
    

Introduction

Child support in Alberta is usually calculated by determining the paying parent’s guideline income and then finding the corresponding monthly amount in the applicable Child Support Guidelines table. The table amount depends on the paying parent’s province or territory of residence, annual income and number of children entitled to support. Special or extraordinary expenses may then be added, while shared or split parenting arrangements can require a different calculation.

Although the table lookup may appear straightforward, the final amount is not always as simple as entering the income shown on line 15000 of a tax return. Bonuses, overtime, business income, corporate benefits, investment income and unexplained reductions in earnings can all affect guideline income. The amount may also change when children live with each parent, spend at least 40% of their time with each parent or have significant additional expenses.

The updated federal child support tables came into effect on October 1, 2025. Calculations for earlier periods may require the tables that applied during those periods. The Department of Justice Canada’s current 2025 Child Support Table Look-up can help identify a basic table amount, but it does not determine every part of a parent’s legal obligation.

Which Child Support Guidelines Apply in Alberta?

The applicable legislation depends partly on the parents’ legal circumstances.

The Federal Child Support Guidelines generally apply when child support is determined as part of a divorce proceeding under the federal Divorce Act. The Alberta Child Support Guidelines generally apply in provincial family-law proceedings outside the Divorce Act, including many cases involving parents who were never married.

The two sets of guidelines are substantially similar and rely on child support tables. Both are intended to:

• Establish a fair standard of support

• Ensure children continue to benefit from both parents’ financial means

• Make support calculations more objective

• Reduce conflict

• Promote consistency between families in similar circumstances

The governing legislation should be confirmed before calculating support, particularly where a parent or child lives outside Alberta.

The Basic Child Support Calculation

For a child under the age of majority, the starting point is generally:

Monthly table amount + applicable special or extraordinary expenses

The table amount is determined using three pieces of information:

1. The paying parent’s annual guideline income

2. The number of children entitled to support

3. The province or territory where the paying parent lives

For example, if the children primarily live with one parent and the other parent lives in Alberta, the Alberta table is generally used with the paying parent’s guideline income.

The table amount is intended to cover ordinary expenses associated with raising a child, such as:

• Housing

• Food

• Clothing

• Routine transportation

• Basic school supplies

• Regular household costs

• Ordinary recreation and entertainment

The recipient parent is not normally required to provide receipts showing how every dollar of the table amount was spent. Child support contributes to the child’s overall standard of living in that parent’s home.

Step One: Determine the Parenting Arrangement

The child’s parenting arrangement affects how support is calculated. The legal calculation does not depend solely on labels such as “shared custody” or “primary parent.” What matters is the actual parenting arrangement and the applicable guideline provisions.

Majority Parenting Time

When a child spends more than 60% of their parenting time with one parent over the course of a year, that parent has a majority of parenting time under the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

The other parent will usually pay the table amount based on:

• Their guideline income

• Their province or territory of residence

• The number of children

This remains the usual starting point even if the paying parent has substantial parenting time.

Shared Parenting Time

Shared parenting time generally exists when each parent exercises at least 40% of the parenting time with a child over the course of a year.

Reaching the 40% threshold does not automatically eliminate child support. It also does not necessarily mean the lower-income parent must pay half of every expense.

Under section 9 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines, the court considers:

• The table amount each parent would pay based on their income

• The increased costs associated with shared parenting

• The conditions, means, needs and other circumstances of each parent and child

A common starting point is the set-off calculation. Each parent’s table amount is calculated, and the lower amount is subtracted from the higher amount. The parent with the higher table obligation pays the difference.

For example:

• Parent A’s notional table amount is $1,200 per month.

• Parent B’s notional table amount is $700 per month.

• The initial set-off amount is $500 per month payable by Parent A.

However, set-off is a starting point rather than an automatic final answer. The court may consider actual shared-parenting costs and the circumstances of both households.

Split Parenting Time

Split parenting time generally occurs when each parent has a majority of parenting time with one or more children. For example, one child may primarily live with Parent A while another primarily lives with Parent B.

The court generally calculates what each parent would owe the other and subtracts the smaller obligation from the larger one.

If Parent A would owe $900 for the child living primarily with Parent B, while Parent B would owe $600 for the child living primarily with Parent A, Parent A would generally pay the $300 difference before considering other adjustments.

Step Two: Determine Guideline Income

A parent’s guideline income is usually determined under sections 15 to 20 and Schedule III of the applicable Guidelines.

The starting point is often the parent’s total income on line 15000 of their most recent personal income tax return. That figure may then need to be adjusted.

Relevant financial records commonly include:

• Personal income tax returns

• Notices of assessment and reassessment

• Current pay statements

• Employment contracts

• Records of bonuses, commissions and overtime

• Corporate financial statements

• Business tax returns

• Investment statements

• Partnership records

• Trust documents

• Proof of pension or disability income

The Guidelines require the most current available information to be used. Relying only on an older tax return may produce an inaccurate result if the parent’s income has changed.

Employment Income

For a salaried employee with stable earnings and no unusual income sources, determining guideline income may be relatively straightforward.

The calculation may become more complicated when compensation includes:

• Regular overtime

• Commissions

• Performance bonuses

• Tips

• Stock options

• Restricted share units

• Employer allowances

• Taxable benefits

• Income from more than one job

If a bonus or commission varies from year to year, it may be appropriate to consider several years of income rather than relying on one unusually high or low year.

Fluctuating Income

Section 17 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines permits a court to consider the pattern of a parent’s income over the previous three years and determine an amount that is fair and reasonable in light of that pattern.

A three-year average is sometimes used, but it is not mandatory in every fluctuating-income case. The court may consider:

• Whether the change is temporary or permanent

• The reason for the fluctuation

• The parent’s historical earnings

• Current contracts or employment circumstances

• Whether a particular year included a one-time payment

• Whether the parent’s recent income reflects their actual earning capacity

Self-Employment Income

A self-employed parent’s taxable income does not necessarily equal their guideline income.

Business owners may deduct expenses for tax purposes that are not considered reasonable deductions when determining child support. Personal expenses paid through a business may also need to be added back.

Items requiring closer review can include:

• Vehicle expenses

• Travel and meals

• Home-office expenses

• Payments to related persons

• Depreciation or capital cost allowance

• Personal telephone expenses

• Retained business income

• One-time business expenses

• Non-cash benefits

Financial disclosure from a self-employed parent may therefore require more than a personal tax return.

Corporate Shareholders, Directors and Officers

When a parent is a shareholder, director or officer of a corporation, the court may look beyond the amount reported on the parent’s personal tax return.

All or part of the corporation’s pre-tax income may be attributed to the parent if the court considers the personal income reported to be an incomplete reflection of the money available for child support. Legitimate business requirements must also be considered.

Corporate cases may require:

• Financial statements

• Corporate tax returns

• General ledgers

• Shareholder loan records

• Dividend records

• Details of related-party transactions

• Evidence explaining retained earnings

• Proof of genuine business expenses

The analysis is fact-specific. Retaining money in a corporation is not automatically improper, but a parent generally cannot shelter income from a child support obligation simply by leaving funds inside a company.

Imputing Income to a Parent

A court can impute income when the parent’s reported income does not fairly reflect the amount that should be used for child support.

Income may potentially be imputed when a parent:

• Is intentionally unemployed or underemployed, subject to recognized exceptions

• Diverts income in a way that affects its availability for support

• Fails to provide required financial disclosure

• Unreasonably deducts expenses from income

• Receives income taxed at a lower rate

• Derives significant benefits from a trust

• Receives non-taxable income

• Appears to have income that does not support their spending or lifestyle

Intentional underemployment does not always require proof that the parent deliberately acted to avoid child support. The court may examine whether the parent’s employment choices are reasonable in the circumstances.

Relevant considerations can include the parent’s:

• Education and training

• Work history

• Health

• Age

• Available employment opportunities

• Child-care responsibilities

• Reason for leaving or changing employment

A reasonable career transition, health-related absence or educational program may be treated differently from a voluntary reduction in income without a convincing explanation.

Step Three: Find the Applicable Table Amount

Once guideline income has been established, the appropriate child support table is used.

The applicable table is generally based on the paying parent’s province or territory of residence rather than the child’s residence. If the paying parent lives outside Canada, additional rules apply.

The federal tables provide monthly amounts across different income levels and numbers of children. The 2025 tables apply to support periods beginning on or after October 1, 2025. Earlier periods may require the 2017 tables.

The table lookup provides the presumptive basic amount. It does not automatically account for:

• Shared parenting

• Split parenting

• Special or extraordinary expenses

• Income over $150,000

• A child over the age of majority

• Undue hardship

• A parent standing in the place of a parent

• Complex or disputed income

Income Over $150,000

When a paying parent earns more than $150,000 annually, the Guidelines provide a specific approach.

The presumptive amount generally includes:

• The table amount payable at $150,000

• The additional percentage specified by the applicable table for income above $150,000

However, a court may determine another amount is appropriate for some or all of the income above $150,000. The paying parent generally bears the burden of showing why the presumptive table calculation would be inappropriate.

High-income cases can require a closer examination of:

• The children’s reasonable needs

• The family’s standard of living

• The parenting arrangement

• The financial circumstances of both parents

• Whether the claimed expenses genuinely benefit the children

Child support is intended to benefit the child, but it is not limited to bare necessities.

Children are generally entitled to share in their parents’ financial circumstances.

Step Four: Add Special or Extraordinary Expenses

Special or extraordinary expenses are commonly called section 7 expenses because they are addressed in section 7 of the Guidelines.

Potential section 7 expenses include:

• Child-care expenses required for employment, education, training or health reasons

• The child’s portion of medical and dental insurance premiums

• Certain health-related expenses not covered by insurance

• Extraordinary primary or secondary school expenses

• Post-secondary education expenses

• Extraordinary extracurricular expenses

An expense does not qualify merely because it benefits the child. It must fall within a recognized category and be necessary in relation to the child’s best interests and reasonable in light of the parents’ and child’s means and the family’s spending pattern before separation.

How Section 7 Expenses Are Shared

Qualifying expenses are generally shared in proportion to the parents’ respective incomes after accounting for:

• Contributions from the child

• Subsidies

• Benefits

• Insurance reimbursement

• Relevant income tax deductions or credits

For example, if Parent A earns 60% of the parents’ combined guideline income and Parent B earns 40%, a net qualifying expense may generally be shared 60/40.

Suppose a qualifying expense costs $5,000 annually after subsidies and tax benefits:

• Parent A’s presumptive share would be $3,000.

• Parent B’s presumptive share would be $2,000.

The exact calculation may require accounting or tax advice, especially for child-care costs and post-secondary expenses.

Parents should discuss significant section 7 expenses in advance whenever possible. A parenting agreement can specify:

• Which expenses require advance consent

• How consent must be requested

• What documentation must be provided

• How reimbursements will be calculated

• When payment must be made

• Whether emergency expenses are treated differently

What About Adult Children?

Child support does not necessarily end automatically when a child turns 18.

Under the Divorce Act, an adult child may remain entitled to support if they are unable to become financially independent because of illness, disability, education or another qualifying cause.

For an adult child, the court may:

• Continue using the Guideline approach as if the child were under 18; or

• Set another appropriate amount based on the child’s condition, means, needs and circumstances and each parent’s ability to contribute

Post-secondary cases may involve consideration of:

• Tuition and mandatory fees

• Books and educational supplies

• Residence or rent

• Scholarships and grants

• Student loans

• The child’s employment income

• Registered education savings

• The child’s reasonable contribution

• Whether table support should continue while the child lives away from home

The child’s age, educational plan, academic performance and relationship with the parents may also be relevant, depending on the circumstances.

Can Parents Agree to a Different Amount?

Parents can negotiate child support, but they cannot treat it as an ordinary debt belonging to the recipient parent. Child support is the child’s legal right.

A court may review an agreement to determine whether it provides reasonable support under the applicable Guidelines. A parent should not give up child support in exchange for:

• More parenting time

• Less parenting responsibility

• A favourable property settlement

• A waiver of spousal support

• Another unrelated concession

Parenting time and child support are separate legal issues. A parent cannot ordinarily stop paying support because the other parent has interfered with parenting time. Similarly, a parent should not withhold the child because support has not been paid.

Financial Disclosure and Annual Updates

Accurate child support depends on complete and current financial disclosure.

The Guidelines contain an ongoing obligation to provide income information when properly requested. Depending on the case, disclosure may include:

• The three most recent tax returns

• Notices of assessment and reassessment

• Current earnings information

• Corporate or business records

• Trust information

• Details of section 7 expenses

Many agreements and orders require annual disclosure by a particular date. This allows the parents to update support without beginning a new court proceeding each year.

The recalculation should address:

1. Updated income

2. The current child support tables

3. Changes in the number of eligible children

4. Changes in parenting arrangements

5. New or discontinued section 7 expenses

6. Any retroactive adjustment required by the agreement or order

Alberta’s Child Support Recalculation Program may be available for eligible orders and agreements. It can recalculate certain support amounts using updated income information without requiring the parents to return to court. Not every case is eligible, particularly where the calculation requires judicial discretion.

Retroactive Child Support

If income increased but child support was not updated, the recipient may seek a retroactive adjustment. The analysis can include:

• When the recipient gave effective notice that support should be reviewed

• Whether the paying parent disclosed income accurately

• The reason for the delay in requesting an adjustment

• The conduct of both parents

• The child’s circumstances

• Any hardship caused by a retroactive award

• Whether the paying parent engaged in blameworthy conduct

A parent should not assume that failing to request updated support immediately eliminates the issue. Likewise, a recipient should not assume that every historical difference will automatically be recovered.

Annual income disclosure and prompt recalculation help reduce the risk of a large retroactive claim.

Does a New Partner’s Income Affect Child Support?

A new partner’s income is not normally included in the basic table calculation. The obligation rests with the child’s parents or, in some circumstances, a person who stood in the place of a parent.

A new partner’s finances may become relevant in limited situations, such as:

• An undue-hardship claim requiring comparison of household standards of living

• Evidence about a parent’s actual expenses or financial circumstances

• Questions about diverted income or benefits

• Certain discretionary shared-parenting considerations

A new partner does not ordinarily become responsible for paying child support simply because they live with one of the parents.

Undue Hardship

A parent may ask the court to order a different amount because the Guideline amount would cause undue hardship.

Possible circumstances include:

• Unusually high debts reasonably incurred to support the family before separation

• Unusually high costs of exercising parenting time

• A legal obligation to support another person

• A legal obligation to support another child

• A responsibility to support a person who cannot obtain basic necessities because of illness or disability

The test is difficult to meet. Even when a listed circumstance exists, the court must generally compare the standards of living in the parents’ households. A claim may fail if the applicant’s household would have the higher standard of living after paying the Guideline amount.

Ordinary budget pressure is generally not enough.

Common Child Support Calculation Mistakes

Frequent mistakes include:

• Using net income instead of guideline income

• Assuming line 15000 is always the final figure

• Using the child’s province instead of the paying parent’s province

• Using outdated child support tables

• Treating a 50/50 schedule as meaning no support is payable

• Applying set-off automatically without considering section 9 factors

• Ignoring bonuses, commissions or corporate benefits

• Deducting business expenses without reviewing whether they are reasonable

• Sharing section 7 expenses before accounting for subsidies or tax benefits

• Assuming every extracurricular activity is a section 7 expense

• Failing to update support after income changes

• Ending support automatically when a child turns 18

• Linking child support payments to parenting-time compliance

These errors can lead to significant arrears or overpayments, particularly when they continue for several years.

When to Speak With a Family Lawyer

Legal advice is particularly useful when:

• A parent is self-employed

• A parent owns or controls a corporation

• Income changes significantly from year to year

• A parent receives bonuses, stock options or investment income

• Financial disclosure is incomplete

• One parent appears intentionally underemployed

• The children spend substantial time with both parents

• Parents disagree about the 40% threshold

• Section 7 expenses are disputed

• A child is attending post-secondary school

• Support has not been reviewed for several years

• Retroactive support or arrears may be involved

• A parent lives outside Alberta or Canada

• The paying parent earns more than $150,000

A lawyer can identify the correct income figure, calculate the applicable range of support and help ensure the agreement or order includes effective disclosure and recalculation terms.

How Bridgestone Law Can Help

Child support calculations can appear mechanical, but the result depends on accurate income information and the family’s actual circumstances. A small error in annual income or parenting-time classification can create a substantial difference over time.

Bridgestone Law assists Calgary and Alberta families with:

• Initial child support calculations

• Financial disclosure

• Self-employment and corporate income

• Shared and split parenting calculations

• Section 7 expenses

• Annual recalculations

• Retroactive support

• Child support variations

• Enforcement and arrears

We can review your income documents, parenting arrangement and child-related expenses and help you pursue a support amount that complies with Alberta law and the applicable Child Support Guidelines.

Contact Bridgestone Law to discuss your child support rights and obligations.