Payor Info & Forms

How the Child Support Recalculation Program help payors
What the Child Support Recalculation Program can’t do for payors
Payors’ legal obligations
Payors’ rights
Forms

How the Child Support Recalculation Program helps payors

The Recalculation Program (RP) allows payors to have their eligible child support orders regularly recalculated to reflect changes in the payor’s earnings. In some cases, changes in the recipient’s earnings are also considered. RP charges each of the payor and recipient a service fee of $75 for each recalculation that changes their child support amount.

Once clients register with RP, this service:

offers an easy and inexpensive way for payors to fulfill their legal obligation to ensure the child support their children receive matches the parents’ incomes
provides regular changes to child support amounts that respond to either increases (e.g. raises) or decreases (e.g. cutbacks, job loss) in your income
ensures accessibility no matter where in Alberta the parties reside
does not require either party to attend court or go to a government office, and
provides certainty, predictability and transparency in the method of recalculation,

RP considers only one change in circumstance regarding child support payments – a change in guideline income . This change in guideline income can result in a new table amount of support being payable and/or updated proportionate shares of Special or extraordinary expenses only. No other terms of the existing court order are affected.

RP bases its recalculations on income tax documentation. If RP is recalculating proportionate shares of special or extraordinary expenses or monthly support in split/shared custody situations, RP also considers the recipient’s income information. A deemed income increase can be applied if a parent fails to provide RP with the required income information. RP requires tax return documents for the most recent tax year (previous calendar year ending December 31).

If a parent’s (payor or recipient) notice of assessment for the previous calendar year is not yet available, the parent can submit tax return documents for the year before the previous calendar year only if the income information due date is prior to June 30. A deemed income increase can be applied if a parent fails to provide RP with the required income information.

RP can recalculate in some, but not all, cases where income information shows a payor or recipient is self-employed - 22 KB or involved in a private corporation.

Recalculations are based on the anniversary date of the order being recalculated. After reviewing the parties’ income information, RP will send both parents a written Recalculation Decision.

If RP's calculations show a difference of at least $10 per month in child support (or at least 10% in proportionate shares), RP's Recalculation Decision changes the amount of child support payable in the parties’ court order. The parents are responsible for paying the new amounts stated in the decision unless an objection is made within 30 days after the Recalculation Decision is sent. Each of the recipient and the payor is charged a service fee of $75 for the recalculation.

What the Child Support Recalculation Program can’t do for payors

The Recalculation Program (RP) recalculates eligible child support orders (and some agreements). RP does not help payors get a child support order or agreement; it only recalculates existing ones. Some resources that assist parents in getting child support orders are listed on the Maintenance Enforcement Program’s website at:

Family Law Information Centres - 34 KB
Referrals to Resources - 63 KB

RP will apply its legislation and regulations to recalculate child support in an administrative, efficient, non-discretionary manner. It cannot weigh evidence, exercise discretion or consider special circumstances like a court can. Some situations, such as those involving significant self-employment or private corporation involvement by a payor or recipient, may need to be handled by a Court instead of RP.

RP targets its recalculations to be effective on the anniversary date of the court order and uses income tax documentation to recalculate. This means payors cannot ask RP to recalculate at different times or respond immediately to income changes. For example, if a payor receives a large pay cutback, RP will not immediately change the child support payable. Rather, RP’s recalculation of child support will take this decrease into account the following year, after it appears on the payor’s income tax return.

Unlike the court dealing with a parent’s request for a variation order, RP cannot deal with:

retroactive child support
maintenance arrears
deciding if a child is still eligible for support
the entitlement to special or extraordinary expenses
changes other than income (such as a child no longer being dependent or moving to live with the other parent, or changes in the nature of special or additional expenses being incurred)
relief other than child support (e.g. parenting time, property)
evidence of income other than income information.

RP also does not deal with enforcement of child support. This is handled by the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP). In some cases, MEP may be able to address some changes in child eligibility or special expenses through their policies on reducing enforcement. This would only apply to parties who are registered at MEP.

Payors’ legal obligations

Payors registered with RP have these obligations to the program:

Contact information
Payors must provide RP with their current contact information (address and phone numbers) and inform the program of any changes to this contact information within 30 days. Payors can do this by phone, regular mail, fax or e-mail. (To protect their privacy, clients choosing to use fax should ensure they dial the correct number. Those using email should know the Internet is not secure; e-mails can be easily intercepted or misdirected.)

Payors are also encouraged to inform RP of any changes in the recipient’s contact information.

RP is entitled by law to use the last known address for a client when sending its Recalculation Decisions or other notices. Any documents sent to a client’s last known address are deemed by law to have been received.
Income information
Payors must provide income information to RP at least 60 days before the anniversary date of the child support order. The information required is:

a copy of the payor’s personal income tax return filed for the most recent taxation year;
a copy of every notice of assessment or reassessment received by the recipient from Revenue Canada for the most recent taxation year; and
a completed income questionnaire. This questionnaire allows RP to identify if the recipient is involved with a private corporation.

See also: Example of income tax return - 869 KB
See also: Example of notice of assessment or reassessment - 50 KB

Information Sheet - Deemed Income Increase

Service fee
RP charges each client a service fee of $75 for each recalculation that results in a change in the child support payable. Clients must ensure they pay their service fees, even if they do not agree with RP’s decision.

Payors registered with the Maintenance Enforcement Program (MEP) will have their service fee automatically applied to their MEP file. If you pay your maintenance to MEP before its due date, the service fee may be paid from this credit balance on your account, which may make your maintenance payment short by $75.00 To avoid this difficulty, payors should ensure there is an additional $75.00 credit on their MEP account.

Note: RP service fee payments cannot be made by telephone or Internet banking or by credit card. Fees may be paid by cash, cheque or money order. Clients should not send cash through the mail. Cash and debit payments for RP are accepted at MEP's Edmonton office at 7th Floor, 10365 - 97 Street.
Providing child support orders and court applications
Recipients must promptly provide RP with copies of any court orders granted that change or confirm their child support. They should also keep RP informed of any ongoing court applications regarding their child support amounts. They best way to do this is to provide copies of all application documents.

Payors’ rights

Payors with eligible child support orders have the right to request registration with RP.

Once registered with RP, payors have these rights:

Right to object
Payors who do not agree with a Recalculation Decision have the right to object to the recalculated child support amount within 31 days of being notified of the Recalculation Decision.

For more information, see Information Sheet - Objecting to a Recalculation Decision - 38 KB .

See also: Notice of Objection to Recalculation Decision form - 94 KB .
Right to privacy
RP will keep payors’ contact and other personal information private. It will not be disclosed, except as required by law. One notable exception is that payors’ income information may be shared with recipients if provided to RP.
Right to consent to recalculation in some self-employment situations
If RP is recalculating proportionate shares of special or extraordinary expenses or monthly support in split/shared custody situations, both the payor and the recipient will be required to provide their income information to RP.

If a recipient’s income information shows significant self employment income or involvement in a private corporation or partnership, and the payor's child support will increase based on this income information, RP will seek consent from the payor before proceeding with the recalculation. In these cases, you have the right to chose whether you want RP to proceed with the recalculation.

For more information, see Dealing with Self-Employment Income Information Sheet - 22 KB
Right to withdraw or waive recalculation
If the payor is the party who registered with RP, the payor can also choose to withdraw from the program.

RP must receive the written withdrawal request at least 60 days before the anniversary date of the court order if the payor wishes the current recalculation to be cancelled and the file closed. However, recalculation will continue if the recipient has registered or chooses to register with RP. If the withdrawal is received late, the file may be closed only after the current recalculation if completed.

See also: Withdrawal form - 88 KB .

With the agreement of the recipient, payors can also ask RP not to recalculate for any given year. For the current recalculation to be waived, RP must receive the waiver form at least 60 days before the anniversary date of the child support order.

See also: Waive Recalculation form - 94 KB .
Right to obtain income disclosure from the recipient
If RP is recalculating proportionate shares of special or extraordinary expenses or monthly support in split/shared custody situations, RP will be asking the recipient each year to provide income information. Registration with RP, however, does not affect any legal rights that might exist for payors to ask recipients for financial information. Each parent still has their usual rights to request financial disclosure under the Alberta Rules of Court and the Child Support Guidelines.

Payors can also ask RP for a copy of the income information RP has received from the recipient. In the future, RP plans to automatically post this information on a secure Internet account site called Recalculation Info Online.
Right to return to court
Even when registered with RP, payors have the right to return to court at any time to ask to vary their current order. If a new order is granted, a copy should be provided promptly to RP.