Frequently Asked Questions

You can apply for this service if you are either the recipient of support or the paying party. Both you and the other party must be residents of New Brunswick and your court order or agreement for child support must have been made in Canada.

We are unable to do child support recalculations for a person who lives outside of New Brunswick.

To enroll you in the service, we require contact information for the other party. To do this, we must be able to send them a Notice of Enrollment and confirm that they have received it.

If you are unsure of their location and still wish to apply, provide as much last known information as you can on the application. We will do our best to use the trace and locate mechanisms available to us to identify their current location.

However, if we are unable to locate them, we won’t be able to complete the enrollment process or recalculate your child support, so we will have to close your file. If you learn of their contact information at a later date, you can reapply using the same Child Support Recalculation Service file number that we originally provided to you.

Yes. Recalculated child support payments are based on the party’s previous year’s income and will be adjusted (up or down) based on the amounts listed in the Child Support Guidelines

We will not adjust support if the change is less than $5.00.

To see what your child support amount is likely to be according to the Guidelines, use the Child Support Calculator.

No, once you’re enrolled, we will automatically recalculate your child support each year on the anniversary date of your order or agreement using the previous year’s income of one or both parties. If you obtain a new court order or agreement, you will need to send it to us. We will assess if the new order is eligible, and if it is, use it to make that recalculation in the future.

Yes. Both parties must consent to withdraw. Contact the CSRS for more details.

You can determine if you’re eligible to apply by reading Are you eligible to apply?

If we determine you are eligible, we will mail you a Notice of Enrollment shortly after we receive your application.

To help us process your application as quickly as possible, provide us with a completed application form along with the required documents and respond promptly with additional information if we request it. For more information on what to expect, see What happens after you apply.

The other party will not have access to your personal information. However, as the service recalculates support based on the most recent income information, each party may request a copy of the information that was used in the recalculation decision. We would remove any personal details before sending a copy of the information. You might also want to read Questions about your privacy.

We will send the request for financial information by mail with your Notice of Enrollment in the service. If we’re able to confirm that the other party has received their Notice, they will have a set time to provide their financial information to us. If we don’t receive the financial information we need, we will determine if you are eligible for us to deem their income. If we determine that deeming income is possible and necessary, we will do your recalculation based on the deemed income. Questions about deeming.

If you report on your application, or when speaking with us, that there has been a history of family violence, we will add a flag to your file. This way, anyone you speak with at CSRS will be aware that your case needs some special consideration. For example, we might notify you prior to sending notices to the other party.

Any relevant information you can share with us is helpful. For example, you might want us to note an experience you had with the other party, a legal order or directive that’s in place, or a legal matter that is active. If you choose to update us about your situation over time, we will update your file with the new information.

What you report to us is confidential and we will not share what you report with the other party. We will keep your situation in mind as we work with both you and the other party in a professional manner.

• What is family violence?
• Refer to PLEIS-NB for more information

To check the status of your application, please contact us by phone at 1-833-224-2225, email, or fax us at 506-453-2234. For privacy reasons, we can only answer general questions by email.

You will receive your CSRS file number with your Notice of Enrollment that you will use whenever communicating with CSRS.

No. If your court order or agreement was made in another country, you are not eligible to apply. Here’s information on Calculating support if the other parent lives in another country from Justice Canada.

Yes. As long as both you and the other party currently reside in New Brunswick, your non-NB order is registered in New Brunswick, and you meet other eligibility criteria, we are able to recalculate. Visit Are you eligible to apply

If you have an order, your anniversary date is the date the judge signed it. If you have an agreement, the anniversary date is the date the parties signed. If there’s no date shown, it’s the date your agreement was filed with the court.

No. We can only make recalculations for the children mentioned in an existing court order or agreement that you send us.

When completing the Application form, you are asked to indicate if you are expecting recalculation for each child listed.

After you are enrolled and you wish CSRS to recalculate for fewer children that are mentioned in your court order, contact us so we can send you a consent form to sign and return it to us.

That depends on what’s in your court order or agreement filed with the court. If your order or agreement uses both of your incomes to calculate child support, then we require the Notice of Assessment or Reassessment from the previous year from both of you as well a completed Income Questionnaire. This might occur if you have a split-parenting arrangement between you and the other party, or if you share proportionate payments toward special expenses.

If your order or agreement only uses the paying party’s income to calculate support payments, then we only require their financial information.

You can send us your application, with the required attachments by mail, email, or fax. Refer to How to Contact Us.

If income is primarily based on self-employment, we aren’t able to do a recalculation. However, if self-employment income is minimal (20% or less of the total income) and is in addition to
full-time income, we may be able to recalculate.

Yes, we have the authority to deem income if the information is not provided. Refer to Questions on deeming income.

As every case will be different, your recalculated support amount and start date will be indicated in your recalculation decision.

Yes, if you are enrolled. As Recalculation Decisions have the same force and effect as a court order, we forward all Recalculation Decisions to the OSE. They will then update their records and proceed to monitor and enforce the recalculated terms.

You can contact the OSE at 1-844-673-4499 or their website at www.gnb.ca/ose for more information.

No, we are not able to retroactively adjust support or reduce amounts that were payable in the past. You must return to court. Contact your legal representative for assistance.

No, we recalculate annually based on the anniversary date of your order or agreement, using your previous year’s income from your Notice of Assessment or Reassessment. If you need to retroactively adjust your support to reflect your current income, you must return to court. Contact your legal representative for assistance.

No, we recalculate annually based on the anniversary date of your order or agreement, using your previous year’s income from your Notice of Assessment or Reassessment. If you need to retroactively adjust your support to reflect your current income, you must return to court. Contact your legal representative for assistance.

If you’re already enrolled in the service, you must notify us by phone 1-833-224-2225 or email and keep us informed. Depending on the status of your file, we will need to assess your situation and determine next steps.

If you’re already enrolled in the service, you must notify us by phone 1-833-224-2225 or email and keep us informed. Depending on the status of your file, we will need to assess your situation and determine next steps.

You must notify us of the change by phone 1-833-224-2225 or by email

Please refer to the Privacy Policy.

Deeming income is the process of recalculating income for parties who have failed to provide their actual income information. The service has the authority to increase income between 10% to 30% for the purpose of recalculating support.

Yes, in this situation, we will deem the income for both parties in the same year.

You have 30 days from the date in the recalculation decision to object by applying to the court to vary, suspend or terminate your child support order.

To object, you must apply to the court within 30 days from your recalculation date, and:

• attach a copy of the recalculation decision to your court application
• send us a copy of your court application
• unless you file an application with the court within 30 days, the decision will automatically come into effect on the 31st day.

You can contact your legal representative for assistance or find more information on how to change a child support order on FamilyLawNB.ca.