The four Atlantic provinces — Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador — each have distinct rules that affect support calculations. The most significant differences are the age of majority (which varies between provinces), New Brunswick's designated province status, and the Amount for Young Children credit available in NS and PEI.

Age of Majority

Under provincial family law legislation, child support generally runs until the child reaches the age of majority. This means a child in PEI may have support end a year earlier than the same child in Nova Scotia, unless the child qualifies as a "child of the marriage" under the Divorce Act (which uses its own dependency test regardless of provincial age rules). For cases under the Divorce Act, the federal definition governs — see our article on support for adult children.

New Brunswick: Designated Province

New Brunswick is one of three designated provinces under the Federal Child Support Guidelines (along with Manitoba and Quebec). This means provincial child support tables apply instead of the federal tables when the payor resides in New Brunswick. Nova Scotia, PEI, and Newfoundland and Labrador all use the federal tables.

PEI Amount for Young Children

PEI offers a non-refundable provincial tax credit of $100 per month ($1,200 per year) per child under age 6, known as the "Amount for Young Children" (PE428, line 58230). As a non-refundable credit, it reduces provincial tax owing and therefore affects NDI — but it does not produce a direct cash payment if the claimant has no provincial tax liability to offset. For a lower-income parent who pays little or no provincial tax, the credit may have no practical effect on their support calculation. Nova Scotia does not have an equivalent credit.

Other Provincial Benefits

Each Atlantic province has additional income-tested benefits that enter the NDI waterfall:

All provincial benefits are included in the calculator's NDI waterfall for each province and tax year.