A parent or guardian Parents and guardians can apply for child support under the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' whether the parties they are married spouses, unmarried spouses, or if they were in no particular relationship with each other at all but had a child together. People other than parents can also apply for child support if they are caring for a child, including grandparents who are guardians of their grandchildren and people who have been appointed as a guardian of a child.

Definitions play an important role in determining eligibility and responsibility for child support under the ''[[Family Law Act]]'', just as they do under the ''[[Divorce Act]]''. Section 147 of the ''[[Family Law Act]]'' says that each parent and guardian of a child is responsible for the support of that child, and section 146 defines ''child'', ''parent'', and ''guardian'' as follows:

Section 146 also gives a definition of ''stepparent'' for the definition of "parent ," and says that:

However(Remember that under the ''Family Law Act'', section "spouse" includes married people as well as people who lived together, in a romantic relationship, for at least two years or for less than two years if they have a child together.) Section 147 puts some really important limits on support for minor children, and on when stepparents are and aren't responsible to pay child support:

Section 149(3)(b) also says that an order can't be made against a stepparent until the stepparent and parent have separated. It is interesting This means that while the a stepparent and the a child’s parent live together, the stepparent has no legal obligation duty to support that child, unless the stepparent becomes a guardian of the child.  As you can see, these definitions cast a very wide net and it's fairly easy to qualify as a "parent" who must pay child support. A few important points come from the case law on these definitions: *All parents are responsible to pay child support, regardless of the nature of the parents' relationship with each other.*Child support can be paid by stepparents and by guardians who aren't parents.*The definition of "stepparent" includes anyone who has been the spouse of a parent and contributed to the support of the child for at least one year.*The phrase "contributed to the support of the child for at least one year" does not mean for a whole, continuous calendar year. The 1999 case of [[https://canlii.ca/t/1d290|''Hagen v. Muir''] talks about this issue. *Child support obligations may end for an adult child if the child makes a decision to stop having a meaningful relationship with the parent who pays support. The case of [http://canlii.ca/t/1dk6h Farden v. Farden] talks about circumstances like these. *Whether stepparents and adult children do or don't have an ongoing relationship may be important when deciding if child support should be paid and in what amounts