I just went through a separation/divorce over the past year and a half. First off if you can both agree on division of assets and stick to it it's really quite simple. Step #1 is for each of you to find different lawyers and one of you get a separation agreement drawn up with what you have agreed upon already(cost me $1500 in Calgary). That lawyer will send it to the other spouses lawyer and go over everything with them to see if any changes are to be made. If everything is all good you both sign the agreement and you're all covered on the financial and child custody/support side of things. Once you are past 1 year of being separated you can now get a divorce (certain circumstances allow it to be done sooner).
I just got divorced a couple months ago. We filled out all the paperwork for a jointly filed divorce, left an hour early from work one day and we met at the courthouse and filed for under $300. 2 months later it was signed off by the judge and made official. I would recommend not messing around with verbal agreements for child support. When we first decided to split we agreed on each paying half of our sons daycare fees and that would be it, 1 week at my place then 1 at hers. After meeting with my lawyer he informed me that no judge will ever sign off on that for child support. You must go off the federal child support table created by our government, no if's about it. This amount is based off of each of your gross incomes for each tax year therefore it will vary every year most likely. If you do it otherwise it could come back to bite you in the ass which might be what happened to kegriver. let's say you both agree to you paying her $500 a month and you do so for 5 years. Then something happens between you two and she wants to take you for all you got. She sees a lawyer and he calculates you should have been paying her $1000 monthly so now you're stuck forking over that back pay or you're going to be losing your licence and having your wages garnished. I know quite a few people that have these verbal agreements and I'm sure it works fine for some people but you're opening yourself up to be put in a bad spot down the road. I also send all my payments by e-transfer so there is an electronic paper trail, never do this with cash.
Here are a couple calculators to give your friend an idea of what he's in for financially.
https://www.mysupportcalculator.ca/calculator/results
https://www.davidsonfraese.ca/albert...rt-calculator/
Just my 2 cents.