When children spend substantial time in both parents' homes, child support is calculated differently than it is in a more traditional parenting arrangement. The number most parents hear about is 40%. Under Ontario's Child Support Guidelines, shared parenting applies for child-support purposes where each parent exercises at least 40% of the parenting time with the child over the course of a year. The Federal Child Support Guidelines use the same threshold. But reaching 40% doe

If you are separating with children, child support is usually one of the first financial issues that needs to be understood. Ontario's child-support framework is designed to make the calculation more consistent than many other areas of family law. But that does not mean every case is solved by typing one income into an online calculator. For many families, the starting point is a table amount based on income and the number of children. The calculation can become more complica

When parents separate, a lot of attention naturally goes to the parenting schedule. Where will the child sleep? How will weekends work? What happens during school holidays? But another question is just as important: Who will make the significant decisions about the child's life? In Ontario, this is called decision-making responsibility. It can include decisions about a child's education, healthcare, culture, language, religion or spirituality, and significant extracurricular

If your parenting agreement or court order was made several years ago, it may still use the words “custody” and “access.” If you are creating or changing a parenting arrangement today, you are more likely to see different terms: decision-making responsibility, parenting time and contact. The federal Divorce Act stopped using “custody” and “access” when major amendments came into force on March 1, 2021. Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act was also amended effective March 1, 20

If you are separating and have children, you may still find yourself using words like “custody” and “access.” Those terms were used in Canadian family law for many years. But since March 1, 2021, the federal Divorce Act and Ontario's Children's Law Reform Act have used different language for new parenting arrangements: decision-making responsibility and parenting time. The change is useful because these two terms describe different parts of parenting after separation. One ans