Make a new separation agreement

You and your partner can agree to make a new separation agreement on child support to deal with the changes in your situation. You can talk to your partner on your own, with the help of someone you both trust, or with the help of a lawyer.

For example, if the payor parent is making more money, you can agree on a new amount of child support.

If the new agreement changes an old agreement that was filed with the court, a “Notice of Calculation”, or a “Notice of Recalculation”, then any new agreement should also be filed with the court. If it is not filed with the court, the Family Responsibility Office cannot enforce the new support amount.

If the new agreement changes a final court order, you need to ask the court to change their order based on their new agreement.

Your child support agreement can include:

• the names and birthdays of the children receiving child support
• where the children will live
• the amount of monthly child support payments
• the date when child support will be paid, including a start date
• the amount of additional payments for special or extraordinary expenses like daycare, if any
• a repayment schedule for the missed child support payments
• how child support payments will be made, for example, cash with a receipt, cheque, direct deposit, money order, interac e-transfer, or through the Family Responsibility Office
• how you plan to deal with child support if there are changes in your situation such as changes in income or employment
• how the payor parent will give updated income information

Your separation agreement has to follow certain rules to make it binding and enforceable under the law. This means your agreement is made in a way that allows the court to order you or your partner to do what the agreement says, if either of you stop following it.

For example:

• You and the other parent have to understand the agreement.
• The process has to be fair.
• The separation agreement has to take into account the best interests of the child.

You don’t need a lawyer to make a separation agreement. But it’s a very good idea for each of you to get your own legal advice before signing one. It is important for each of you to get your own legal advice from different lawyers. This is sometimes called independent legal advice. The advice is independent because each lawyer is only working for one of you.