How can child support be changed?

You may want to change child support because of changes to your situation. For example:

• The payor parent loses their job and can no longer pay the current amount of child support.
• The payor parent makes more money and the other parent wants them to pay more child support.
• Your child finishes school, marries, or moves out on their own.
• Your child is working full-time.
• Your child is living with the other parent or a different person.
• There are new special or extraordinary expenses.

A change in the income of the parent receiving support is generally not a reason to change child support. This is because that parent’s income is usually not taken into account when deciding how much child support should be paid.

How you change child support depends on how you and your partner agreed on the amount of child support. For example, if you agreed and signed a separation agreement or got a court order.

Separation agreement or court order

If you have a separation agreement or court order that includes child support, check it to see if it deals with these kinds of situations. For example, it might say that child support ends when your child gets their degree or diploma.

If your separation agreement or court order does not say what should happen if there are changes to your situation, you and your partner can agree to make a new separation agreement. If you can’t agree, you can get help from a family law professional or go to court and ask a judge to decide.

Notice of Calculation

If you and your partner used the Ontario government’s the online Child Support Service (CSS) to decide the amount, you can use it again to change the amount. The government then mails you a Notice of Recalculation that has the new amount. Only one parent needs to ask to change child support online. The other parent does not need to agree.