Spousal Support in Canada and the SSAG

Spousal support in Canada is decided in two separate steps: a spouse must first establish entitlement to support, and only then do the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines suggest a range for the amount and how long it should last.

Entitlement Comes Before Any Formula

Before a dollar figure or a duration matters, a spouse has to establish that they are entitled to support in the first place. The Divorce Act sets out four objectives a spousal support order should try to meet under section 15.2(6): recognize economic advantages or disadvantages arising from the marriage or its breakdown, share the financial consequences of caring for children, relieve economic hardship caused by the marriage breakdown, and promote the recipient's self-sufficiency within a reasonable period, so far as practicable.

Courts have distilled those objectives into three overlapping bases for entitlement.

• Compensatory. One spouse gave up income, education, or career advancement for the relationship or for raising children, for example, leaving the workforce to care for kids while the other spouse's career advanced. The Supreme Court's leading case is Moge v Moge, [1992] 3 SCR 813, which recognized how much unpaid domestic and caregiving work can economically disadvantage a spouse at the end of a marriage.
• Non-compensatory (needs-based). Even without an economic sacrifice traceable to the marriage, a spouse can qualify for support out of need, particularly where a long, interdependent marriage leaves one spouse unable to become self-sufficient, for instance because of illness or disability. This basis comes from Bracklow v Bracklow, [1999] 1 SCR 420, which held that marriage can create a form of mutual obligation independent of fault or sacrifice.
• Contractual. The spouses agreed, in a marriage contract, cohabitation agreement, or separation agreement, that support would be paid.

Only once entitlement is established on one or more of these bases do the SSAG formulas come into play.

The SSAG Are Advisory, Not Law

This is the single most important thing to understand about the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines: they are not legislation. The federal Department of Justice developed them as an informal, non-binding tool to bring more predictability to spousal support amounts and duration, and courts across the country have adopted them as a useful starting point. But no statute requires a judge to apply them, they generate a range, not a fixed answer, and a court can and does depart from that range where the facts warrant it.

This is a sharp contrast with child support in Canada. The Federal Child Support Guidelines ARE a binding federal regulation made under the Divorce Act. A judge must apply the child support tables (subject to narrow, defined exceptions like undue hardship); there is no equivalent obligation for spousal support.

Never describe the SSAG as "the law" or as something a court "must" apply. Describe them as what courts, lawyers, and mediators use as a check on the individualized Divorce Act analysis.

The Without Child Support Formula

When the paying spouse has no ongoing child support obligation to the recipient, the SSAG use a comparatively simple formula based on the length of the relationship and the gross income gap between the spouses.

Amount. For each year the spouses lived together (cohabited, including any pre-marriage cohabitation), the formula adds 1.5% to 2% of the difference between the spouses' gross incomes, up to a ceiling of 50% of that difference. A longer relationship pushes the percentage toward the higher end of the range and, eventually, against the 50% cap.

Duration. The suggested range for how long support should be paid is 0.5 to 1 year for every year the spouses lived together. That range becomes indefinite (meaning open-ended and subject to later review, not permanent) once either of two things is true:

1. The spouses cohabited for 20 years or more, or
2. The "rule of 65" applies: the years of cohabitation plus the recipient's age at separation add up to 65 or more, and the relationship lasted at least 5 years.

Worked example. Say two spouses cohabited for 12 years. One earns $90,000 a year and the other earns $40,000, a gross income difference of $50,000. At 1.5% to 2% per year for 12 years, that is 18% to 24% of the difference, or roughly $9,000 to $12,000 a year in support. Suggested duration is 6 to 12 years (0.5 to 1 year per year of cohabitation). If the recipient was 53 at separation, the rule of 65 test (12 years + 53 = 65) would push duration into the indefinite range instead. These are illustrative ranges only; a court applies the guidelines to the specific facts, and can move outside them.

The With Child Support Formula Is Not a Simple Percentage

When the payer still owes child support to children of the relationship, the SSAG switch to a materially more complex calculation, and this article will not reduce it to a percentage, because doing so would be misleading. The with child support formula works from each spouse's individual net disposable income rather than gross income, and it requires child support to be calculated and paid first, before spousal support is layered on top. Net disposable income accounts for taxes, applicable credits and deductions (including the effect of the child support itself), and each household's after-support position.

Because the inputs and interactions are so involved, family law practitioners in Canada almost universally use specialized software (such as DivorceMate or ChildView) to run the with child support formula rather than doing it by hand. If children are involved, treat any online estimate as a very rough starting point and expect the real range to require a proper calculation.

How Long Does Support Last?

Outside the indefinite triggers described above (20+ years of cohabitation, or the rule of 65), the SSAG duration ranges are meant to give both spouses a sense of the outer boundaries, not a guaranteed end date. Support written as indefinite is not necessarily permanent. It remains open to variation or review as circumstances change, for example if the recipient becomes self-sufficient earlier than expected, or if the payer's income changes materially.

Who Pays Tax on Spousal Support

Under the Income Tax Act, periodic (ongoing) spousal support payments are deductible to the payer and must be reported as taxable income by the recipient, provided the payments meet the legal definition of a support amount (generally, paid under a written agreement or court order for the recipient's benefit, on a periodic basis). A lump-sum payment of spousal support is generally not deductible to the payer and not taxable to the recipient, which is one reason lump sums and periodic payments are negotiated differently. Spouses working through the tax consequences of a specific arrangement should confirm the current rules with the Canada Revenue Agency or a tax professional.

Changing Support Later: Variation vs Review

A spousal support order or agreement is not necessarily fixed forever. Two different mechanisms can change it later:

• Variation. A court can vary an existing order where there has been a material change in circumstances since the order was made, something that was not foreseen (or could not have been reasonably contemplated) at the time and that would likely have led to a different order.
• Review. Some orders or agreements are written to include a scheduled review, allowing either spouse to bring the support amount or duration back before a judge on an agreed future date without needing to prove a material change.

Separation agreements that address support can be challenged and set aside for reasons like non-disclosure of income or assets or unconscionable conduct in the negotiation, as in Rick v Brandsema, 2009 SCC 10. Courts also give real weight to a fairly negotiated agreement that waives or limits future support, applying the framework from Miglin v Miglin, 2003 SCC 24, which asks whether the agreement was negotiated fairly and whether it still reflects the original intentions of the spouses. Full financial disclosure, and ideally independent legal advice for each spouse, materially strengthens an agreement's odds of being upheld.

Common-Law Spouses and Quebec

The SSAG and the Divorce Act framework above apply to married spouses seeking a divorce. Unmarried, common-law spouses can also claim spousal support in most of Canada, but the right to claim it, and the cohabitation period required to qualify, comes from provincial or territorial family law, not the Divorce Act, and it varies significantly by province. See our guide to common-law relationships in Canada for how each province defines a qualifying relationship.

Quebec is the outlier. Unmarried de facto spouses in Quebec have no statutory right to spousal support at all. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld that exclusion in Quebec (Attorney General) v A, 2013 SCC 5 (widely known as the Eric v Lola case). A more recent reform, Quebec's parental union regime under Bill 56, in force since June 30, 2025, created new property-sharing and inheritance protections for de facto spouses who have a child together on or after that date, but it did not create a spousal support obligation. De facto spouses in Quebec still cannot claim spousal support from each other.

Estimate a Range

Use our Canada Spousal Support Calculator to estimate a without child support SSAG range based on the length of cohabitation and each spouse's gross income. If child support is also payable, pair it with our Canada Child Support Calculator, since child support must be worked out first. Neither tool establishes entitlement or replaces individualized legal advice, and for the with child support formula, treat the output as a rough starting point only. For the broader picture of family law across the country, see our Canada family law hub and our dedicated guide to child support in Canada.

Disclaimer: This article explains general spousal support principles under Canadian federal and provincial law. It is not legal advice. Spousal support outcomes depend on the specific facts of each relationship and separation. Consult a family law lawyer licensed in your province or territory before relying on any estimate or making decisions about your situation.