Spousal support in Ontario has no table and no formula with the force of law. There are two questions, and they come in order: is there an entitlement at all, and only then how much and for how long.
About this work
Broadly, one of two things, and the language courts use for them comes from the statutory objectives rather than from any table.
The first is compensation. Where one spouse's economic position was damaged by the roles the couple adopted, and the other's was improved by them, support recognises that. The classic pattern is a spouse who left work or took lesser work to raise children or to follow the other's career, and section 15.2(6)(a) and (b) of the Divorce Act point directly at it. Section 33(9)(j) of the Family Law Act names it explicitly: a contribution by the dependant to the realisation of the respondent's career potential.
The second is need. Where the breakdown leaves one spouse unable to meet reasonable expenses and the other able to help, support relieves that hardship. Section 33(9)(f) directs the court to the accustomed standard of living while the parties lived together, which is why need is not measured against a bare subsistence line.
Length of the relationship runs through both. A long marriage with children and an interrupted career is the strongest case for support; a short marriage between two established earners with no children is frequently no case at all. Everything in between is argued.
The thing clients raise first
It is the most common opening sentence in these meetings, and the answer is set out in the statutes rather than being a matter of anybody's view. The two Acts differ, and the difference is narrow.
In making a spousal support order the court shall not take into consideration any misconduct of a spouse in relation to the marriage. There is no exception in section 15.2(5). Who caused the breakdown is simply not a factor.
The obligation exists without regard to the conduct of either spouse, but the court may in determining the amount have regard to a course of conduct so unconscionable as to constitute an obvious and gross repudiation of the relationship. That threshold is deliberately very high and is rarely met.
The objectives in section 15.2(6) are about economic advantage and disadvantage arising from the marriage or its breakdown, the financial consequences of caring for children, relieving hardship, and promoting self-sufficiency so far as practicable. None of them asks who was at fault.
The Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines are published by the Department of Justice. They are advisory. They are not legislated, they do not bind a court, and they produce ranges rather than an answer. They are also used constantly, which is why they matter.
Side by side
6 points of difference
Spousal support is available to unmarried partners in Ontario. Property division is not, which surprises people who assume the two go together.
The route
6 stages, each with its own clock
The provisions below are from the federal Divorce Act and the Ontario Family Law Act. There is no table and no statutory formula, which is the single most important difference from child support.
There is no automatic right to spousal support. A court asked for an order takes into consideration the condition, means, needs and other circumstances of each spouse, including the length of time they cohabited, the functions each performed during cohabitation, and any existing order, agreement or arrangement about support.
An order should recognise economic advantages or disadvantages arising from the marriage or its breakdown, apportion the financial consequences of caring for a child beyond child support itself, relieve economic hardship arising from the breakdown, and so far as practicable promote each spouse's economic self-sufficiency within a reasonable time.
The court shall not take into consideration any misconduct of a spouse in relation to the marriage. Ontario's own provision is slightly different: the obligation exists without regard to conduct, but a course of conduct amounting to an obvious and gross repudiation of the relationship may affect the amount.
An order should recognise the spouse's contribution to the relationship and its economic consequences for them, share the economic burden of child support equitably, make fair provision to help the spouse become able to contribute to their own support, and relieve financial hardship where property orders have not already done so.
Current and likely future assets and means, capacity to contribute and to pay, age and health, the accustomed standard of living while the parties lived together, what it would cost and how long it would take for the dependant to become self supporting, other support obligations, the desirability of staying home with a child, and any contribution to the other's career potential.
A support order may be made for a definite or indefinite period or until a specified event occurs, and the court may impose terms, conditions or restrictions as it thinks fit and just.
Before the meeting
6 things to bring
Bring what you have and say what is missing. A meeting with the papers in front of it settles in one sitting what two telephone calls will not.
Our approach
The same four steps on every matter, whether it is a refusal at the Federal Court or a ticket at the Provincial Offences court.
Book a consultationWe take the full history and read the documents before offering an opinion. Most bad advice comes from acting on half the facts.
You get a candid read on strength, timeline and cost, including when the honest answer is that you do not need to hire anyone.
We prepare the application, the defence or the appeal properly the first time, because fixing a weak record later is harder and dearer.
You hear from us at each stage, and you hear what a wait actually means rather than a date chosen to sound better.
Reported decisions
7 allowed of 22 reported since 2023
Public judgments of the Federal Court with Kapil Rathod as counsel of record, each checkable by citation on the court's own site. The rest were dismissed and are listed with these ones.
Super visa, parents and grandparents
2026 FC 99Docket IMM-23381-24
Application allowedWork permit, Temporary Foreign Worker Program
2026 FC 105Docket IMM-18690-24
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
2026 FC 805Docket IMM-20802-24
Application allowedPermanent residence, Express Entry
2025 FC 275Docket IMM-1797-24
Application allowedWork permit, job offer
2024 FC 1928Docket IMM-6445-23
Application allowedStudy permit
2024 FC 1487Docket IMM-3700-23
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
2024 FC 1453Docket IMM-10337-23
Application allowedSpousal support in Ontario turns on entitlement before amount, and on economics rather than fault.
There is no table, the Advisory Guidelines are advisory only, and the difference between a release that holds and one that is set aside is almost always disclosure and independent advice.
Common questions
8 answered here
Written to be read once and acted on rather than to be rung about. Each answer is complete where the law allows a complete answer.
With the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines, which almost every family lawyer and judge in the country uses, and which are not law.
That distinction matters and it is worth being precise about. They are published by the Department of Justice, they are advisory, they have no legislative force, and they do not bind a court. What they do is take inputs the statute already makes relevant, chiefly the incomes, the length of the relationship and whether there are children, and produce a range for amount and a range for duration.
Because it is a range rather than a figure, the negotiation happens inside it. Where in the range a case falls turns on the statutory factors: health, the realistic prospect of becoming self supporting and how long that would take, other obligations, and the standard of living during the relationship.
Entitlement still has to be established first. Running the numbers before deciding whether support is owed at all is the most common way these discussions go wrong, because a range produced by a calculator feels like an answer and is not one.
It depends on why it was owed. An order may be made for a definite or indefinite period, or until a specified event occurs, and the court may attach terms and conditions.
Where support is compensatory, arising from economic disadvantage created by the relationship, duration tends to reflect the length of the relationship and the time realistically needed to recover. Where it is needs based, it tends to be reviewed as circumstances change. Long marriages, particularly where one spouse is near retirement, produce indefinite orders more often than any other pattern.
Indefinite does not mean permanent. It means no end date is fixed at the outset, and the order remains open to variation if things change materially: retirement, a serious change in either income, illness, or the recipient becoming self supporting.
Section 15.2(6)(d) is the counterweight. An order should, so far as practicable, promote the economic self-sufficiency of each spouse within a reasonable period of time. So far as practicable is doing real work in that sentence: it is an objective, not a deadline, and it does not require a fifty-eight year old who has not worked in twenty years to become self supporting.
Waived, yes. Unlike child support, spousal support belongs to the spouse and can be released in a separation agreement. Those releases are enforceable and they are relied on constantly.
They are also the most attacked provision in family agreements. A release signed without financial disclosure is vulnerable under section 56(4)(a) of the Family Law Act, one signed by a party who did not understand its consequences is vulnerable under 56(4)(b), and one that leaves a spouse destitute while the other is comfortable invites an argument that circumstances have moved so far from what the parties contemplated that the release should not stand.
The way to make a release hold is unglamorous: complete disclosure exchanged first, independent legal advice on both sides, and a document that says what the parties knew and what they were giving up. The way to make one fail is to sign it quickly, without advice, before anyone has produced a financial statement.
Changing an ongoing obligation generally requires a material change in circumstances, whether the parties are varying by agreement or asking a court. Any variation to an agreement has to meet the same form requirement as the agreement: in writing, signed and witnessed.
Under the Divorce Act, no. Section 15.2(5) says the court shall not take into consideration any misconduct of a spouse in relation to the marriage. Ontario's Family Law Act is slightly different: section 33(10) says the obligation exists without regard to conduct, but the amount may be affected by conduct so unconscionable as to be an obvious and gross repudiation of the relationship. That threshold is very high.
No. There is no automatic entitlement and no table. Entitlement has to be established first, usually on the basis that the relationship left you economically disadvantaged, or that you are in need and the other party can pay. Only after that does the amount and duration arise.
They are advisory. They are published by the Department of Justice, they are not legislated and they do not bind a court. In practice they are used in almost every negotiation because they produce a workable range from the incomes, the length of the relationship and whether there are children.
In Ontario, possibly. Section 29 of the Family Law Act extends the support definition of spouse to two people who cohabited continuously for at least three years, or who are in a relationship of some permanence and the parents of a child. Note that this gives a support claim only, not the equalization of property that married spouses have.
Yes, unlike child support. A release is enforceable, but it is the provision most often attacked. Full financial disclosure before signing and independent legal advice on both sides are what make one hold, and their absence is what a later application will be built on.
Bring three years of income for both of you and the dates you lived together. Spousal support in Ontario is assessed from those before any range is calculated.
