Québec child support & custody time calculations
A child has the right to child support when their parents separate. Its purpose is to help cover the child's needs like food, shelter and clothing.
When you have a divorce or child custody case, you are required to ask the court for a child support order.
The parent who doesn't have custody pays child support. If parents share custody, one parent might still pay support — usually the one with the higher income.
Parents can agree on a support amount or let the court decide. The court is unlikely to approve an amount that is significantly less than what it would award.
Québec's child support formulas
Canadian provinces use child support guidelines (i.e., formulas) to help judges understand what's an appropriate child support amount for each case.
Two sets of guidelines could apply to parents in Québec. The federal support guidelines apply when one parent lives outside of the province and you're divorced or divorcing. Québec's child support guidelines apply in every other case.
The following information and the calculator above focus on Québec's guidelines.
Factors in the support amount
The court considers the following when determining the support obligation under Québec's guidelines.
Number of dependent children
In Québec, you could receive support benefits for any child financially dependent on you, regardless of whether they are under 18 or an adult. An adult child could even request support from one or both parents. The court only awards support for an adult under certain conditions.
The support order does not automatically end once the child turns 18. You'll have to make a request for support to end. (See Cancelling or changing support below.)
Parents' annual disposable incomes
Disposable income is a parent's total earnings from work and all other sources, minus the basic deduction amount and union dues and professional fees if applicable.
The basic deduction amount is the sum the government expects parents to need for their own living expenses, and it changes annually. You can find it beneath the basic parental contribution table.
Custody time
Custody time, also called parenting time in divorce cases, is whenever a parent has the child in their custody, including when the child is at daycare, school, etc. A custody time calculator can tell you exactly how long you had or will have custody in any period.
Additional expenses for the children
These are expenses that the standard support guideline does not account for, like school tuition.
How the court calculates support
The court uses the basic parental contribution table to figure out how much parents should spend on their children in total based on their income. Then it looks at custody time and who pays additional expenses to determine child support.
You can estimate your support payment using the calculator above. You can also use Québec's online calculation tool.
When you ask for a support order, you'll fill out the Child Support Determination Form to determine a more precise support amount. Keep in mind that a judge can still order a somewhat different amount based on the details of your situation.
You can fill out this form on your own or with the other parent, even if you don't have an agreement. When you reach Part 5, only fill out the division applicable to your type of custody.
- Sole custody/majority parenting time: Fill out Division 1. If the noncustodial parent has 20 to 40 percent of custody time, fill out Division 1.1 instead.
- Sole custody to each parent for more than 1 child: Fill out Division 2.
- Shared custody/shared parenting time: Fill out Division 3.
- If either parent has children not included in the order: Fill out Division 4.
For a detailed breakdown of support calculation, see Québec's brochure on how the court determines child support.
How support is paid
Revenu Québec (RQ) manages support payments, and parents can choose a payment method together:
- Payment order: The payer makes payments to RQ on the 1st and 16th of every month, and RQ sends the money to the recipient.
- Deduction at source: Support is subtracted from the payer's income, then RQ sends the money to the recipient. If the deducted amount doesn't cover the support payment, the payer has to send the rest to RQ.
- Direct payments: If parents agree to allow it, the payer can send money to the recipient directly.
If parents cannot agree on a method, or if the payer misses a payment, deduction at source becomes the method.
Before direct payments can happen, the payer must provide RQ with a security — either one month's child support or a letter of guarantee from a bank. If the payer is late making a payment or misses it, RQ deducts from the security payment or from the payer's tax return. Cash security payments collect interest, and the payer gets back what's left when the support order ends.
Revenu Québec does not have the authority to stop, change or cancel support payments.
Changing or cancelling child support
If you agree with the other parent to change or cancel support, you can contact the Homologation Assistance Service for help. The agency will assign a lawyer to draft your agreement and send it to a special court clerk for approval. Upon approval, the clerk will send the decision to Revenu Québec.
If you can't agree, you have a few options.
First, you can go to mediation to try to reach an agreement.
If your child is under 18, you can request to change support online through Service administratif de rajustement des pensions alimentaires pour enfants (SARPA). You can't use this service to cancel support.
The last option is petitioning the court to change or cancel support.
Family Allowance payment
Québec's Family Allowance payment is paid out four times a year to eligible parents with at least one child who is under 18.
If one parent has sole custody or majority parenting time, they get all of the allowance. If parents share custody or parenting time, they share a modified allowance.
Getting an accurate child support order
Estimating your custody time can impact your child support by thousands of dollars a year.
Still, lawyers and the court usually estimate because manually counting days is time-consuming, especially when you consider holidays.
The Custody X Change app lets you quickly calculate your exact time with your children.
To get your number of custody days, you can set your account to calculate by overnights. Or let the app calculate by hours, then divide your total hours in a year by 24 to arrive your number of days.
