Child Support - Table Support Explained
Child support is one of the most frequently asked about topics during an initial consultation and also one of the most misunderstood. Despite the Child Support Guidelines being designed to make the process as simple as possible, many people still find it confusing to navigate during a separation.
There are two aspects to child support:
Table Support - This is a set amount of money that one parent pays monthly to help cover the basic costs of raising a child (e.g. food, shelter, clothing). The parent receiving this amount is not required to track or report how the money is used.
Special and Extraordinary Expenses - also known as Section 7 expenses, are additional costs such as childcare, medical expenses or extracurriculars. (We will cover this further in a separate article)
What is Table Support? Table Support is the amount of child support that must be paid using the Child Support Tables that are part of the Child Support Guidelines (hence the name). These Tables set a specific amount of support a parent must pay to another parent based solely on:
the payor parent’s gross annual income,
the province or territory where the payor resides, and
the number of children they have.
For example, if a parent who needs to pay support earns $90,000.00 a year, while living in Manitoba and has 3 kids, the monthly table amount would be $1,653.00 a month.
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The payor parent is typically required to pay table support if they do not have the children in their care for more than 40% of the time. This is usually calculated by the amount of overnights the children spend with a parent. In this case, it does not matter what the receiving parent’s income is when determining support payable.
An issue that comes up is, what happens if for the majority of the year a parent has less than 40% but in the summer, they have the children 50% of the time? To put it simply, the Guidelines look at the entire year as a whole, and they would still be required to pay the full amount of Table Support year-round.
However, if parents share parenting time, such that each parent has the children at least 40% of the time (it doesn’t have to be equal), the higher earning parent will pay a “set off” amount of table child support. This is calculated by looking what each parent would pay for child support based on their own incomes and subtracting the two numbers to come up with the set off amount.
So, if we use our example from earlier, where parent “A” earns $90,000.00, and they owe $1,653.00, we will use the same information to calculate what parent “B” would pay if the kids where with parent “A” more than 40% of the time.
Let’s say they earn $50,000.00 a year, so they would owe $936.00 per month. So, the calculation would be as follows:
Parent “A” earns $90,000 → owes $1,653/month
Parent “B” earns $50,000 → owes $936/month
Set-off Support: $1,653 − $936 = $717/month, payable by Parent “A”
Again, because both parents are sharing parenting time, Parent “A” no longer pays the full $1,653.00, instead only pays the difference between their support obligations.
Child Support is also considered a right of the child and is not something a parent can waive their entitlement to receive. If you are seeking to have a divorce granted, the Justice will not pronounce it unless child support is addressed and meets the requirements of the Child Support Guidelines.
If you’re trying to navigate a situation where support is payable and need advice or you have questions, please contact our office and book a consultation. We’d be happy to explain it further based on your exact situation!
- Written by Breena R. Murray