The meeting is booked for 9 a.m. on a Monday and lasts about eleven minutes. By lunchtime you have a severance letter, a box of desk stuff in the car, and a nagging question that grows heavier as the afternoon goes on: the next child support payment comes out on Friday, and there’s no paycheque coming to cover it.
Losing a job is stressful enough on its own. When you’re paying support under a court order or a separation agreement, it comes with a particular kind of worry, because the amount you owe was worked out based on an income you no longer have. What most people want to know straight away is whether the payment drops automatically now that the money has stopped.
It doesn’t, and that’s the most important thing to understand about child support when you lose your job. The rest of this article covers what happens instead, what the courts look at, and the steps that protect you while you get back on your feet.
Why nothing changes on its own
A child support order stays in force until it’s changed, either by a written agreement between the parents or by the court. The amount was set under the Child Support Guidelines using your income at the time, and the order doesn’t know your income has dropped. Every payment you miss or short becomes arrears, and arrears don’t disappear just because the reason for them was a layoff.
People sometimes start paying a smaller amount they think is fair, assuming it’ll get sorted out later. It’s an understandable instinct, but the gap between what you pay and what the order says keeps building, and a court isn’t obliged to wipe it out even if it later agrees your income fell.
Job loss as a material change
To change support, you generally need to show a material change in circumstances. A genuine, involuntary job loss, such as a layoff, a termination without cause, a plant closure or a disability, is usually accepted as one. Recognition isn’t automatic, though, and courts look at a few things before deciding what’s fair.
- Whether the job loss was truly involuntary.
- Your efforts to find comparable work.
- Any EI or severance you received.
- Whether the drop looks temporary or permanent.
If a court decides a parent quit without good reason, isn’t looking for work, or is turning down jobs they could do, it can impute income, which means calculating support on what the parent could be earning, not what they’re actually bringing in. That’s why the job search matters as much as the job loss.
EI, severance and other money
Employment Insurance benefits and severance pay can both be treated as income for support purposes during the period they cover. A large lump-sum severance can mean support stays at or near the old level for a while, even though you’ve stopped working. Any part-time or contract income you pick up counts too.
| Source | How it’s usually treated |
| EI benefits | Counted as income while you receive them |
| Severance pay | Often counted for the period it’s meant to cover |
| New part-time or contract work | Counted as income |
| Income you could earn but don’t | May be imputed if you’re not looking for work |
Disclose all of it honestly. Hiding a severance payment or freelance work is one of the fastest ways to lose credibility with a court, and it tends to come out anyway once financial disclosure starts.
The steps to take this week
- Keep your termination letter, Record of Employment and EI paperwork.
- Start a dated log of every job application.
- Tell the other parent in writing, promptly.
- Propose a written interim arrangement.
- Start the variation process if you can’t agree.
If the two of you can agree on a temporary lower amount, put it in writing and get advice on how to make it formal. If you can’t agree, the next step is a motion to change filed with the court that made the original order, along with updated financial information. Many courts schedule an early case conference, where an interim arrangement is often worked out while the parent looks for work, with a review date once the new income settles.
Disclosure runs both ways once you find work again. If you land a new job, even at lower pay, tell the other parent and update the arrangement, since support will usually be recalculated on the new income. Many orders also require both parents to exchange income information every year, and keeping up with that avoids a second dispute down the road.
The Family Responsibility Office
If your order is registered with the Family Responsibility Office, losing your job doesn’t pause enforcement. The FRO collects what the order says, and its enforcement tools are serious, ranging from garnishing wages and bank accounts to suspending a driver’s licence and asking the federal government to deny a passport. Only a formal variation, or specific arrangements made with the FRO itself, changes what it collects.
That’s another reason to act quickly. The sooner a variation is under way, the less time arrears have to build up, and the stronger your position when you ask a court to take your situation into account.
Getting advice
Legal Solutions Law Firm handles child support variations, interim arrangements and arrears issues for parents across Toronto and the GTA. The firm is led by Ryan Manilla, who was called to the Ontario Bar in 2008, and offers a free 30-minute consultation with flat fees and payment plans available.
If Friday’s payment is coming up and the paycheque isn’t, the worst thing you can do is say nothing and hope it sorts itself out. A short conversation with a family lawyer now, and a written note to the other parent today, puts you in a far better position than a pile of arrears in six months.
This article is general information and isn’t legal advice for any particular case.