Child Maintenance Calculator Alberta

In Alberta, child support is governed either by the federal Divorce Act (for divorcing married spouses) or the provincial Alberta Family Law Act (for unmarried parents or separated couples not seeking divorce). Both statutes adopt the Federal Child Support Guidelines (FCSG).

Under these guidelines, child support is the absolute legal right of the child. Parents cannot contract out of child support; any domestic contract or separation agreement providing less than the statutory table amount will be overturned by the Alberta Court of King's Bench.

Guideline income begins with Line 15000 (total income) of the parent's Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Notice of Assessment. For business owners and incorporated professionals, courts frequently "gross up" income under Section 18 of the Guidelines to attribute pre-tax corporate earnings held within private corporations.

Under Section 9 of the FCSG, if a paying parent exercises parenting time with a child for at least 40% of the time over a year, the strict table amount ceases to apply automatically. The court has discretion to apply the "offset method" (subtracting the recipient's hypothetical table amount from the payer's) while evaluating increased shared household costs.