Free Family Law Software in Canada (2026): What Exists and What It's Good For

Disclosure up front: Divo makes paid family law software for Canadian lawyers, so we have a horse in this race. That's exactly why this guide names our competitors' free tools and says what they're genuinely good at — an honest map is more useful to you, and to us, than a sales page.

"Free family law software" means two different things depending on who's searching. If you're separating and want a support number before talking to a lawyer, there are genuinely free tools — some excellent. If you're a lawyer, paralegal, or firm evaluating software, "free" means free trials of paid products. This guide covers both, in that order.

The genuinely free tools (for consumers and first-pass numbers)

1. Justice Canada's child support table look-up

The official federal look-up is the source of truth for Federal Child Support Guidelines table amounts: pick a province, enter the payor's income and the number of children, get the table amount. It is authoritative and free — and that's all it does. No s. 7 special expenses, no shared-parenting set-off, no spousal support, no documents. Every calculator on this list, paid or free, is ultimately reconciling to these tables.

2. MySupportCalculator

MySupportCalculator is Canada's most widely used free consumer calculator, and it runs on DivorceMate's calculation engine — the same engine behind the software many lawyers use. The free tier covers basic child and spousal support; complex scenarios and detailed reports are paid. For a separating spouse who wants a credible first number, it's a strong choice.

3. Divorcepath's free calculators

Divorcepath — a direct competitor of ours on the professional side — offers free child support, spousal support, and property division calculators that are genuinely good: clean interfaces, province-aware, widely used (they report over a million calculations run). The free tools feed paid "full report" upgrades and their professional product. If you're a consumer comparing numbers across two free tools, run MySupportCalculator and Divorcepath side by side.

4. Courtready's free child support calculator

Courtready deserves credit for two things: no sign-up at all, and unusual transparency about method — the page cites the governing regulation and case law and is explicit about the calculator's limits. Aimed primarily at self-represented litigants.

5. Law-firm calculators

Many family firms host free calculators as intake tools — Calgary Family Law and Crossroads Law run two of the better ones, often paired with long explanations of how sole, shared, and split arrangements change the math. Free to use; expect an invitation to book a consult.

Where every free tool stops

The free tier ends where real files begin. None of the tools above handle the work that consumes actual practice time: imputing income for a self-employed payor under FCSG s. 19, apportioning s. 7 expenses with actual percentages, tracing excluded property in BC or equalizing net family property in Ontario, producing an audit trail a court can follow, or generating the financial-statement forms and separation agreement the numbers have to land in. That's the professional tier — and it is uniformly paid.

The professional tier: free means free trial

Every lawyer-grade Canadian tool is a subscription: DivorceMate (the long-standing incumbent, now LEAP-owned, on 36-month terms), Divorcepath ($80–100/user/month), ChildView (pricing on request), and Divo ($90/user/month, published). The way to evaluate them free is the trial:

Divo — 14-day free trial, full product, no credit card. Details here.
Divorcepath — 7-day free trial per their public pages.
DivorceMate — demos and trial access on request through divorcemate.com.

Our honest advice for a firm evaluation: pick one matter your team already completed manually, run it end-to-end in each trial, and compare the outputs against what you filed. The differences that matter — schedule handling, audit trails, form quality, agreement drafting — show up in an afternoon.

FAQ

Is there completely free family law software in Canada?

For consumers, yes: the Justice Canada table look-up and free public calculators (MySupportCalculator, Divorcepath's calculators, Courtready) cost nothing and produce first-pass child and spousal support figures. For professionals, no: every lawyer-grade Canadian tool — Divo, Divorcepath, DivorceMate, ChildView — is a paid subscription. The free professional option is a trial: Divo offers 14 days of full access with no credit card.

Are free support calculators accurate enough to rely on in court?

Free calculators use the same Federal Child Support Guidelines tables, so a simple table amount is usually right. They get thin where real files live: s. 7 special expense apportionment, shared-parenting set-offs, income imputation for self-employed parties, SSAG with-child formula interactions, and tax effects. None of the free tools produce an audit trail or court forms — that gap is what the professional tier exists for.

What do family lawyers actually use?

Canadian firms run paid calculation software — DivorceMate (the long-standing incumbent), Divorcepath, ChildView, or Divo — typically $75–$200 per user per month. Free consumer calculators are what firms send clients before intake, not what counsel signs their name against.

Last updated July 2026. Vendor pricing and trial terms change — each claim above links to or names its public source; check the vendor's site for current terms.