Divorce is a process that takes time for everyone in the family to adapt to. The issues and emotions resulting from a divorce cannot be dealt with overnight. Divorce and/or separation can be an emotional roller coaster. Anyone involved may experience feelings such as rejection, anger, worry, guilt, loss of control, happiness, depression, fear, inadequacy and insecurity. A parent may question their ability to deal with the needs of their children because of their own great needs. These emotions and difficulties are a natural part of getting through separation and divorce.
One of the hardest parts about a divorce or separation can be the added legal costs. Hiring a lawyer can be very expensive. There are Do-it-yourself divorce kits which can be cheaper than hiring a lawyer but most people find them extremely complicated and very time consuming. Even for an uncontested divorce the courts may require more than a dozen different documents. Many of these are several pages in length. The solution to lawyers or do-it-yourself kits is an online divorce through DivorceOnline.ca where they will prepare the documents for you and send you a set of step-by-step Instructions for filing your documents with the court.
Before you start the divorce documents, you will need to make decisions regarding your children (ie. support, custody, access, etc.) After divorce, both parents still have a legal duty to support their children financially. Once you have worked where the children will live, you will need to figure out how child support will be paid. Before granting a divorce, the judge must be satisfied that appropriate financial arrangements have been made. Follow the link and you can find out more about children and divorce.
There are a set of rules and tables, called child support guidelines, to help people figure out the appropriate amount of child support. The child’s residential arrangements will determine which parent pays child support. The basic amount is based on three things:
1. the payor’s income;
2. the number of children involved; and
3. the province or territory where the payor lives.
In some circumstances, the base amount can be increased or decreased. For example, the amount could be adjusted if the children have special expenses, such as childcare. The amount could also be adjusted to prevent financial hardship for a parent or the children.Child support amounts set out in a separation agreement or court order made after April 30, 1997, do not affect income tax.The person who receives the child support payments does not have to list them as income on his or her income tax form.The person paying the child support cannot deduct the support payments from his or her income.
For a divorce in Canada, the federal government has produced a number of publications to help you calculate child support such as this pdf guide.

