Divorce Child Support Guidelines

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The fundamental principle is that child support should not be regarded as a payment or gift for the benefit of visitation. As a matter of fact, support is an obligation. If a parent fails to disburse this amount, it can be regarded as contempt of court.

Child Support can be defined as a payment ordered by the court that the non custodial parent has to forward to the custodial parent. The underlying rule is that both parents (whether they are divorced or married) have the responsibility to fulfill the necessities to their children.

Highlights of Divorce Child Support Guidelines

• Each state has developed separate guidelines to deal with child support
• As the custody arrangement changes, so does the child support guidelines. For example, if there is sole or shared custody then the calculation of child support is different from when there is split custody
• The guidelines of each state are updated intermittently. The state law committee handles such updating. While updating, the following 2 points are taken into account
  • Whether any new laws regarding child support were introduced?
  • Whether there has been any increment in the costs of living?
• The intention of forming these guidelines is that the court and the parents should have a standard approach to calculate an adequate monthly support amount. The objective is to provide such a standard of living for the child that is as far as possible similar to that which the child experienced before the divorce
• The court is authorized to deviate from the guidelines in the following circumstances
  • If the parent supposed to pay is slacking and not earning money proportional to his/her potential
  • The child has some special considerations
  • The non custodial parent cannot pay the calculated amount
  • The amount derived from the guidelines is more than what is essential
  • It is possible for the non custodial parent to pay more

• Courts follow one of the following models while calculating child support
  • Percentage of Income model: The support amount is expressed as a percentage of the income of the parent who has been ordered to disburse support
  • Income Shares model: The support amount is estimated by finding out the share of income that the children would get if the family continued to be intact
• Some of the factors that are considered as per the guidelines are as follows
  • Union dues and amount
  • Day care and related expenses
  • Which parent is paying health insurance and of what amount?
  • The ages of the children
• The guidelines also state that the points mentioned below must be considered
  • Whether either parent is a recipient of or an obligor of child support or spousal support that is related to any previous marriages?
  • After the most recent divorce, whether any parent is living with a new spouse or partner and whether this new spouse or partner is making any contribution to the household costs?

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