Can you go to jail for not paying child support in Canada? It is a common question that most separated or divorced parents have. However, it is also the last step of not supporting your child.
Child support is essential in Alberta. However, parents often need a child support calculator to get their specific values.
Let’s look into the steps of the child support calculator.
4 Steps of Child Support Calculator
There are four main steps of calculating child support. The steps are:
1. Your income
First, calculate the gross income of you and your partner. You can find the gross income in your tax return file. The value is in line 150 of your income tax return.
2. Children
This category is divided into two parts, the number of children and special expenses.
In this part, you need to put the value of your children with their age and type of parenting. Additionally, a child may need extra expenses for their regular lives. We also need to add the out-of-pocket costs.
Now, let’s see the different types of parenting!
Parenting Time
There are four primary types of parenting. The categories are a majority of parenting, split parenting, shared parenting, and parents with income over $150000.
The majority of parenting is a category where a child lives with one parent because the other is busy with work. In most cases, the parents live in different provinces.
Split parenting is a category where a couple has more than one child and divides the parenting way. As a result, one parent takes more responsibility for a child.
Shared parenting is a category where parents share equal time with their children. In such cases, parents use as set-off expenses for a child.
Parents with income over $150000 are a category where the parent’s gross income is more than $150000.
3. Calculate child support
Through an online calculator, you can now calculate your amount of child support. However, you need to agree to their terms of use in most cases, providing only the estimates. Additionally, any professionals are not providing the estimates through legal advice.
4. Analysis
Finally, you can get an analysis report of your child support calculations. The report will have a different section.
The three sections are:
- Details of support scenarios – your partner and your income and expenses
- Monthly estimates of disposable cash – your partner and your monthly cash flow left
- Report of distributing total income – visuals of both of your income reports.
How to Calculate Child Support?
It would be best if you calculate child support by following Federal guidelines and combining gross income. In some cases, the government can consider child support when only one parent is earning.
However, when a couple equally takes care of a child, the government provides a set-off amount for the one who takes more responsibilities. As a result, the one who is earning more pays child support.
Many issues cause child support. To get legal advice and child support, it is better if you contact a family lawyer.
Information about Child Support in Alberta
You can find different types of information available online based on child support. However, all the sources aren’t authentic to believe.
You can find a general guide in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. On the other hand, for assistance with collecting child support payments and enforcement issues, you can take the help of Alberta Maintenance Enforcement Programs.
Get Legal Help for Child Support
You can firm many consultancy firms that work on family issues. They solely concentrate on working for something that will be in your best interest.
Calgary Divorce, child custody, and family lawyer are some of those firms that can help you. We have professionals with education who have success rates on child support. Contact us now!
Conclusion
Child support is essential in Alberta. It is a child’s right to get their necessity. In many cases, when a couple gets a divorce or is separated, they don’t give proper attention to their child.
If you are struggling with child support, it is better to get help from online child support calculators in Alberta. Through the calculators, you will get an estimate.
Later, you can use those estimates while you discuss your case with a professional.