Many payor parents in Ontario mistakenly assume that child
support automatically ends when their child turns 18. The law,
however, says otherwise. The basic premise of child support is to
ensure that children benefit from the support of their parents when
they are unable to become self-sufficient. Viewed in this light,
the question of age becomes less important than the child's
ability to support herself.
In Ontario, we normally look to three statutes when dealing with
child support: the
Federal Child Support Guidelines, the Divorce
Act, and the Family Law
Act. The Guidelines largely provide a framework
for determining the amount of child support to be paid once it is
established that the child in question is entitled to support. When
dealing with adult children, the Family Law Act explicitly
states that they remain entitled to child support where they are
enrolled in a full-time program of education. The Divorce
Act entitles adult children to support where they
