Set up and change spousal support when going through a separation or divorce.
Spousal support is the money paid by one spouse to the other after they separate or divorce. The purpose of spousal support is to:
When ordered, spousal support is paid by the spouse with the higher income to the spouse with the lower income.
You may be entitled to spousal support if you were either:
You will need to demonstrate at least one of the following:
The court may also consider factors, such as your age, health and childcare requirements.
Spousal support is not an automatic part of divorce or separation.
You and your spouse can either:
The amount of spousal support will depend on several factors, such as:
A lawyer can help you determine the appropriate amount of support for your circumstances. Ask your lawyer to explain the spousal support advisory guidelines ( SSAGs ) and how they apply to your situation. The SSAGs are only guidelines but are often used by lawyers and judges to help decide how much spousal support should be paid, and for how long.
The Federal Department of Justice provides supporting documents to help legal professionals calculate possible spousal support amounts, including a User’s Guide to the SSAGs .
You can also use a spousal support calculator to get an approximate idea of how much support you will need. You should keep in mind that this free online calculator only considers employment income and can only do simple calculations. It is usually best to consult a lawyer to make sure you have considered everything and understand your spousal support rights or obligations.
There are three ways to set up spousal support:
Your separation agreement must follow certain rules in order to be legally binding and enforceable. Before you sign the agreement, make sure that:
If your separation agreement doesn’t follow these rules, you or your spouse can ask the court to set aside your agreement, which means that the agreement doesn’t have to be followed.
You do not need a lawyer to make a separation agreement, but it is a good idea to get legal advice before you sign one. It can be difficult to get a court to set aside a separation agreement, so it is important to get advice from a lawyer before you sign.
If you and your spouse cannot agree on a spousal support arrangement, you can ask a family law professional to help. There are several different types of family law professionals in Ontario that can help you prepare your agreement. Many family law courts in Ontario also offer mediation services.
If you sign a support arrangement outside of the court, you can make support payments directly to your spouse. You can also choose to register your spousal support agreement with the Family Responsibility Office ( FRO ) and they can collect and distribute the payments for you.
The FRO enforces child and spousal support payments to make sure the support is paid regularly. When it is necessary, they will take action to enforce support orders that are not being paid on time or in full.
If you made arrangements with your spouse outside of court in a separation agreement or other type of contract, and you would like the FRO to manage and enforce support payments, you will need to file your separation agreement with the court, and then register the filed agreement with the FRO .
If you and your partner cannot agree to a spousal support amount, you may choose to go to court and ask a judge to decide. This flowchart can help you decide the steps to take in the family law court process.
A family court makes decisions using the Family Law Rules and laws. Once the judge reaches a decision on your case, the court will file a support order with the Family Responsibility Office to enforce support payments.
Follow these steps to get the FRO to enforce your agreement.
Once the FRO registers your agreement, spousal support will be paid directly to the FRO , who will deposit support payments to the recipient’s bank account usually within 48 hours.
If you or your spouse’s situation changes, it may be necessary to change the spousal support terms in your separation agreement or court order. Some changes that might require an update to the agreement or court order include:
Your separation agreement or court order may already deal with these types of changes. For example, it might say that the spousal support ends when the spouse:
The separation agreement or order may also have a review date, which means there is a date where you can review the spousal support amounts to see if they should change or end.
If the separation agreement does not describe what should happen when there are significant changes to your situation, it may be necessary to draft a new separation agreement.
If you cannot agree on the changes to spousal support, you may need to talk to a family law professional or go to court and let the judge decide the amount of support that should be paid.
If you want to change support terms in an agreement, and you have not filed your agreement with the court yet, or you want your changed agreement to replace the one you used to have, you must do the following:
If you have a court order for spousal support that you both agree to change, you will need to complete the following documents and provide them to the court:
COVID‑19: Courts are not operating as usual. Avoid visits to Ontario courthouses, when possible. Consider online filing of family law matters, when appropriate.
You can file these forms online. If you file in-person, you should take your completed documents to the same court that made your court order.
Before you file your documents, you must remove all financial account numbers and personal identifying information. You do this by blocking out information such as:
You must keep the original documents that show this information, in case a judge asks to see it.
A judge will review the documents and may sign the draft orders. They may also instruct you and your spouse to provide more information or appear in court to discuss the situation further.
If you are asking for a change in support and your spouse does not agree, you will need to complete and provide the following documents to the court:
You can file all of these forms online. If you file in-person, you should take your completed documents to the same court that made your court order.
Before you file your documents, you must remove all financial account numbers and personal identifying information. You do this by blocking out information such as:
You must keep the original documents that show this information, in case a judge asks to see it.
Once these documents are filed with the court, the court clerk will sign, date, and apply the court seal to your motion to change, and give you a court file number.
You must serve your partner with a copy of your documents within 30 days of having it issued, and then file an Affidavit of Service (Form 6B) with the court.
In addition, your spouse should also be served with the following forms:
The other spouse then has 30 days (or 60 days if they live outside of Canada or the United States) to complete, serve, and file their response. If they do not respond, the court may make an order based on the applicant’s information alone.
It is always a good idea to seek legal advice before making any changes to your separation agreement.
Sometimes the spouse paying support may not follow the terms of the separation agreement or court order about spousal support. You can talk to your spouse about this on your own, or with the help of a lawyer or mediator.
If it is not possible or safe to speak with your spouse, you may need to get help from the Family Responsibility Office or the courts.
FRO can enforce support. For example, it may be able to:
This will not cost anything for the spouse seeking or receiving support.
If you have a court order, it is automatically sent to FRO . If you have a separation agreement, it must be filed with a court, and then registered with FRO for the agency to enforce it.
FRO will write to the payor spouse’s employer and ask the employer to deduct spousal support from their pay cheque. FRO will then send this money to the spouse receiving support.
You may choose not to use FRO and would prefer to go to court yourself to enforce your separation agreement or court order. You can ask the court for an order to either:
You should speak to a lawyer to help you understand: