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Parents have a legal responsibility to support their children, even if one parent doesn't see or take care of the children. The money one parent pays to the other parent to help provide for the children's daily needs is called child support.

The child support amount is based on the Federal Child Support Guidelines. Make sure the child support in your agreement follows these guidelines if:

• you intend to file your agreement with the court, or
• you intend to have it incorporated into a court order (for example, a divorce order).

Otherwise, the judge might not enforce the agreement or make the divorce order.

If you do something different from what's required under the guidelines, make sure your agreement makes it clear how each parent meets their responsibility to support the children financially.

For more information, including how to calculate support under the guidelines, see Child support.

An agreement about child support is binding (legally effective) only if it's made after separation or when the parties are about to separate.

This section includes some common child support clauses for you to choose from. Not all possibilities are covered. The CLEBC manual covers more options.

Your basic information - instructions

Type in the same short names for you, the other person, and your children that you used in the introductory clauses. They will then appear below in place of Party 1, Party 2, or Name.

Once you've typed in your names, they will appear throughout the clauses below in place of Party 1, Party 2, or Name.

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When you use the guidelines, start by figuring out the payor's "guideline income." Usually this is the payor's gross (before tax) yearly income.

In some situations, the recipient's income is also needed to figure out what the payments will be. This happens most often when:

• there are special or extraordinary expenses, or
• when each parent has the children at least 40 percent of the time.

For more information, including information on how to use the guidelines, see Child support.

Include one or both of these clauses.

• For clause 1, type in the payor's guideline income.
• For clause 2, type in the recipient's income, if it will also be used to calculate child support.

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Ordinary expenses (basic support) are covered by the guidelines table amount. Special or extraordinary expenses are paid in addition to the basic table amount. See below for information on special or extraordinary expenses.

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Include this clause if the children are with one parent all or most of the time. Otherwise, click Don't include.

• Click the name of the parent the children will primarily live with. The field updates to show that person's name.
• Type in the amount of child support the other person will pay. (This is usually the amount owing under the Child Support Guidelines.)

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Include this option if the children live an equal or almost equal amount of the time with each parent. See Child support for information about how to figure out what the adjusted amount would be.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 6:
  • Click the name of the person who will be paying child support. The fields will update with your names.
  • Type in the amount of child support.
• For clause 7:
  • Click the name of the person who will be paying child support. The field will update with their name.
  • Type in the day of the month when they will be paying support (for example, first or second) and the date they will start paying support.

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The Child Support Guidelines say that each parent must contribute to the special or extraordinary expenses of raising the children. Special or extraordinary expenses are paid in addition to the basic table amount. See What are special and extraordinary expenses? for more information.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 10:
  • Click the name of the person who will be paying special or extraordinary expenses. The field updates with your names.
  • Type in the amount that person will pay. Specify whether it's per month, year, or a total amount. For example, $350 per month.
• For clause 11:
  • Click the name of the person who will be paying special expenses. The field will update with their name.
  • Type in the day of the month they will be paying special expenses (for example, first or second) and the date they will start paying special expenses.
• For clauses 13 – 16, type in a description of the special or extraordinary expenses.
• For clause 17:
  • Type in the month and day of each year that you and the other person will review the expenses and payments.
  • Type in the number of days each of you will have to pay your share of the expenses if you miss a payment.

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In BC, many employers provide extended health and dental insurance as employment benefits. These benefits are in addition to coverage under the Medical Services Plan (MSP). Some employers also cover the monthly fee for MSP coverage. We call this medical coverage.

Most employee plans continue to cover dependent children when couples separate.

If you don't have coverage through an employer, you'll have to figure out how you'll cover the cost of medical and dental expenses for your children.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 19:
  • Click the name of the person who will get extended health and dental insurance. The fields update with their name.
  • Type in whether they will either "get and maintain," or "maintain" medical insurance.
  • If that person will not provide extended health insurance, delete that text from the box.
• For clause 20, decide the type(s) of insurance you and the other person will maintain. Delete any text that doesn't apply.

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In many cases, the payor has been paying child support to the recipient before they sign a final agreement. The amount paid is often an estimated amount while the parties gather information and figure out the proper amount to be paid.

If the amount already paid was less than the Federal Child Support Guidelines say it should be, your agreement might include a single payment to make up for the amount of child support that should have been paid for that period. This is called retroactive child support. You might agree that no retroactive child support is owed.

Follow the steps below if some or all of the clauses apply to you. Otherwise, click Don't include for each clause.

Include one of these two clauses.

• Include clause 21 if you have both agreed that a retroactive payment isn't necessary. Click the name of the person who is paying child support. The field will update with your names.
• Include clause 22 if retroactive child support will be paid. Click the name of the person who will be paying the retroactive child support and type in the amount of retroactive child support they will pay.

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It's a good idea to set out when the child support will end. The clause here reflects the current law. It allows you to specify an age at which you both agree child support will end. Your child must be at least 19, but they could be older if:

• they will continue to be dependent because of a disability, or
• they're at school.

See When does child support end? for more information.

• Type in the agreed-upon age when child support will end. Or click Don't include.

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Since child support payments are based on income, it's a good idea to include information about regularly exchanging financial information.

In the option below, the payor must provide income information every year, if the recipient asks for it. If the recipient's income information is used to determine the amount of child support, the payor can also ask the recipient to provide income information once a year.

The type of information required will be different, depending on the source of income. The example(s) in the box apply to situations where the payor is an employee.

Follow the steps below if some or all of the clauses apply to you. Otherwise, click Don't include for each clause.

Include all the clauses that apply.

• For clause 24, describe when the payor will give the recipient financial information. (See examples for guidance.)

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Court cases (case law) say you must tell the other person about any material (significant) change of circumstances that might affect child support obligations. The most common example of a material change in circumstances is a change in either of your incomes.

Include clause 31 in your separation agreement if you want to make this clear.

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Since child support is based on your income, you might want to include an automatic review every year (or less often) to make sure the amount being paid still makes sense.

Include clause 32 if an automatic review applies to your situation.

• Change "British Columbia" to the payor's province if the payor doesn't live in BC.