Free Child Support Calculator and Services

Federal Child Support Guidelines

The federal child support guidelines calculator is a free service offered by the Canadian Justice department to give people a rough idea of what their child support payments should be.  It should not be taken as a legal document since there are a multitude of factors that can change how much a person is obligated to pay, such as provincial or territorial guidelines, as well as split custody arrangements. The calculator is for general information only.  Click the following Image to visit the justice website to use the calculator:

Re-Calculation Program

The Alberta Child Support Recalculation Program was created to provide transparency, decreased cost and ease to the way parents change their child support orders.  The program annually recalculates court-ordered child support based on information provided during tax time.

The purpose of the program is to keep support levels in line with parents income as well as reduce costs associated with regularly asking the courts for changes to existing orders.  The Recalculation Program will recalculate both the monthly amounts of child support as well as the section 7 special expenses (like daycare and sports fees) and other extraordinary expenses.

In order to be able to take advantage of these benefits and register with the program parents must have an existing court order or binding agreement.

Not all orders are eligible, however ultimately in order to find out you would need to register with the program.  This can be done via the RIO (Recalculation Info Online Portal) found here.

Here is an example of an order that contains a clause for the Re-calculation program:

This Order may be recalculated by the Alberta Child Support Recalculation Program (“the Recalculation Program”) based on its anniversary date if eligible for recalculation and if the Recalculation Program determines recalculation is permissible and appropriate pursuant to the Family Law Act and regulations. Either party may apply to register with the Recalculation Program at 8^th Floor, 10365 – 97 Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3W7, phone 780-401-1111 (website: https://www.alberta.ca/child-support-recalculation.aspx). Should either party fail to comply with the income disclosure requirements of the Recalculation Program, then the income of that party may be automatically deemed to have increased as set out in section 55.51 of the Family Law Act.

Maintenance Enforcement Program

The Alberta MEP Program is responsible for collecting court-ordered child support, spousal support, and other expenses like section 7 expenses.  In event of non payment, the MEP program is authorized by the Alberta Government to take enforcement action. Enforcement can take many different forms including but not limited to

• Payroll and/or Bank Garnishee,
• Intercepting your Tax Refund,
• Freezing your Passport,
• Suspending your drivers licence and access to registry services.
• Writs on personal and real property

An example of a clause in a support agreement that directs payments directly to the MEP program:

The amounts owing under this Order shall be paid to the Director of Maintenance Enforcement (“MEP”), 7^th Floor North, 10365 – 97^th Street, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3W7, 780-422-5555 (website: www.albertamep.gov.ab.ca) and shall be enforced by MEP on the filing of the Order with MEP by the creditor (recipient of support) or debtor (payor of support).  The amounts owing shall continue to be enforced by MEP until the party who filed this Order gives MEP notice in writing withdrawing this Order from filing in accordance with Section 9 of the Maintenance Enforcement Act.

For more information on the Alberta MEP Program’s Enforcement Actions, visit their website here.