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Child Support Services Policy

Published Date: January 01, 2024
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03 Case Management

Applicant Assessment

Applicant Financial Evidence

Applicant Evidence for Support Actions

Child support agreements or court orders are based on Affidavits and Statements sworn by the Applicant, concerning circumstances such as the applicant’s finances, the child’s special expenses and parentage. This evidence allows for a support order or agreement with a finding of parentage to be completed according to the Alberta Child Support Guidelines and Tables. The Disclosure Statement and applicant’s Affidavit are held on file and are disclosed during negotiations with the respondent if the matter is settled without court action. If the matter must proceed to court, the Disclosure Statement and Affidavit are part of the required court document package that must be filed with the Clerk of the Court.

Financial Evidence 

The applicant’s finances are required to complete child support calculations when there are Section 7 expenses or when there is split or shared parenting. Disclosure of the applicant’s finances is included in the Disclosure Statement, Schedules 2, or 3, or 5 and either the CSS 4010 Applicant Affidavit or the CSS 4012 Update Affidavit. The Disclosure Statement is completed by the CSW with the Applicant. The Disclosure Statement is used to establish whether or not the Applicant is required to provide financial disclosure. The Disclosure Statement is sworn by the Applicant once completed. When financial disclosure is required, one of the following three schedules must be attached:
  • Schedule 2 S. 21 Alberta Child Support Guideline Disclosure or 
  • Schedule 3 Notice to Disclose Disclosure or 
  • Schedule 5 Update to Disclosure Filed Within the Last Three Years.


The Schedule is used as a checklist. All financial evidence that is required must be available and attached to the Disclosure Statement as attachments.

The CSS 4010 Applicant Affidavit or the CSS 4012 Update Affidavit is completed by the CSW with the Applicant. Financial Disclosure is included in the Affidavit for the purpose of listing the Applicant’s income sources and income amounts. Financial evidence is not attached to the Affidavit as an exhibit because it is attached to the Disclosure Statement.

Annual Income

The applicant must provide copies of their last three years income tax returns and income tax Notice of Assessments to attach to their Disclosure Statement and reference in their applicant’s affidavit.
When the applicant does not have copies of their last three years of income tax returns and income tax Notice of Assessments, the CSW completes the CSS 0338 Consent for Release of Confidential Information authorizing Canada Revenue Agency to provide this information directly to the CSW. The CSW mails the signed CSS 0338 Consent for Release of Confidential Information with the CSS 2808 Request to Canada Revenue Agency for Income Tax Assessments form to Canada Revenue Agency. Once the documents are received by the CSW, the Applicant must attend another appointment to complete the Disclosure Statement, appropriate Schedule and Applicant’s Affidavit.

If the applicant has not completed their last three years income taxes or has not completed all three years of the last three years income taxes this information should be noted on the appropriate Schedule and the applicant’s affidavit.

Year to Date Income

The applicant must provide documentation of all forms of income they are currently receiving. Income may include but is not limited to the following:

  • Employment earnings
  • Self-Employment earnings
  • Income from a Partnership
  • Income from a Corporation
  • Income from a Trust
  • Student funding including loans, grants, bursaries, scholarships and living allowances.
  • Social Assistance
  • Employment Insurance
  • Pension
  • Workers Compensation
  • Disability


Documentation must include a total of year to date income. If documentation from the income source does not include a year to date total, the Applicant must request and provide a letter from the source indicating the Applicant’s year to date income including over time, and their rate of annual salary or remuneration.

These documents must be attached to the Disclosure Statement and the appropriate Schedule. The income totals are included in the applicant’s affidavit.

Applicant’s Annual Gross Income for the Current Year

In calculating applicant's ETW, BFE or AISH attributed annual gross or guideline income the worker only includes the amount of Income Support / AISH apportioned to the applicant:

Income Support – effective January 1, 2024

The worker refers to the EMP0433 Financial Benefits Summary Fact Sheet to determine the monthly core benefits apportioned to the Applicant. Monthly core benefit amounts apportioned to the Applicant are based on "Core Essential" + "Core Shelter" for a single adult.  The amounts may vary and are dependent on the "category" of housing that the Applicant has reported living in.

AISH Benefits – effective January 1, 2024

AISH eligibility and the amount of AISH living allowance are dependent on the client's income from other sources. The AISH living allowance does not vary based on the category of housing the client has reported living in.

The maximum AISH living allowance is $1,863/month ($22,356/year) effective January 1, 2024.  However, actual amounts would depend on other income received. For example, effective January 1, 2024, a client receiving AISH with $500 in CPP-D income would receive $1,363 from AISH.  This is the maximum living allowance ($1,863) minus the CPP income ($500), which is non-exempt income.

AISH clients with employment income have an exemption applied so their AISH benefits are not deducted dollar for dollar.  The income section of the AISH policy manual provides information on income types and exemptions.

The annual guideline income is determined by using:

  • The annual amount of assistance income for the client type if the applicant has a long history of receiving benefits and/or will continue to receive benefits for a lengthy period.
  • The actual months of employment income when the employment income is greater than the monthly assistance income and adding this to the actual months of assistance income. For example: an ETW client worked for a period of 3 months during the year and earned $2,506 and received Income Support based on living with a relative for the remainder of the year for $5,166, ($574x 9). The total income is $7,672: $2,506 from employment and $5,166 from assistance.
  • A combination of employment income and assistance income if the applicant has worked off and on for the last year and their employment income was less on a monthly basis than the amount received on assistance e.g. the applicant earned $2,000 for the last year, then this would be used as employment income and the rest of the applicant’s income would be assistance income to equate to the maximum annual amount for the client type. For example, an ETW client living in Social Housing receives $7,116 ($593 x 12) in annual assistance and $2,000 in employment income. The total assistance income used would be $5,116 ($7,116-$2,000=$5,116). The total income is $7,116: $2,000 from employment and $5,116 from Income Support.
  • Only the applicant’s employment income is used when this amount is over the annual assistance amount and in these situations no assistance income is used. For example, an ETW client living in Private Housing who earned $10,000 during the year would use $10,000 as their annual guideline income. Employment income of $10,000 exceeds the annual assistance amount of a single ETW client living in Private Housing.

    Note
    Example rates are effective January 1, 2024. Income Support and AISH rates are indexed on January 1 each year.


The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) replaced the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) effective July 1, 2016. The CCB is a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families with children under 18 years of age.  Since this benefit is not taxable, it is not used to calculate the Applicant’s child support guideline income.

The UCCB paid families $160 per month for a child under 6 and $60 per month for each child aged 6 through 17. The UCCB was introduced in July 2006 as a taxable benefit.

Effective April 1, 2007 the use of the UCCB in determining the applicant’s gross or annual income under the guidelines was clarified.  The UCCB is:

  • taxable, as such, the Applicant’s Line 15000 (150) Income on their Income Tax Notice of Assessment will include the total UCCB issued to the Applicant for the specific tax year.
  • added to the Applicant’s guideline income when the Applicant has not filed taxes for the specific tax year.
  • not used in the calculation of standard child support (table amount) for split or shared parenting calculations, and used to determine the percentage the applicant is responsible for when calculating Section 7 expenses.


The CSW ensures $1,920 for each dependant who is less than 6 years of age and $720 for each dependent child aged 6 through 17 is added to the applicant’s annual or gross income for Section 7 special expense calculations. The CSW ensures that UCCB income is only added on to the Applicant’s income for each child that a special expense is claimed for. For example, if an Applicant has 2 children ages 8 and 16 and is claiming childcare expenses for the 8 year old, UCCB income is only added on for the 8 year old dependant. The UCCB income the Applicant receives for the 16 year old dependant is not included. ChildView calculates the UCCB automatically as described above.

Special Expenses

Special expenses are defined in the Alberta Child Support Guidelines under Section 7. The actual amount the applicant pays directly or the amount the government pays directly for the expense is used for all calculations. Receipts for each special expense are required. Government records can only be used for special expenses the government is directly paying, i.e. the parent portion of child care subsidy, the babysitting costs on the applicant’s budget or health benefits.

When the Applicant attends the assessment interview and does not bring all of her receipts the CSW must complete the applicant’s affidavit indicating that the applicant has no special expenses. A second appointment will need to be scheduled for the applicant to return to the office with the receipts so that another applicant affidavit can be sworn. Receipts for special expenses are exhibits to the applicant’s Affidavit and must be included as part of the sworn document. When completing the applicant’s Affidavits, the CSW ensures that the documents to substantiate the Affidavits are available and are attached to the Affidavits as exhibits.