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

The monthly child-support table amount is not always the entire child-support obligation. Some costs relating to a child can be added on top of the basic table amount. These are commonly called section 7 expenses, after section 7 of the Child Support Guidelines. But not every expense for a child qualifies. The first question is whether the expense falls within one of the categories recognized by the Guidelines. The second is whether it is necessary in relation to the child's

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