What is Child Support?
By Casey Kelly, Associate Attorney
Parents have a duty to financially support their children. When a parent and a child live together, judges rarely take action to enforce that duty. However, if a parent lives apart from the child (that parent is typically referred to as the “non-custodial,” “non-home,” or “obligor” parent), a court will order that parent to pay child support. Child support is to provide for the child’s basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, etc.).
The amount a non-custodial parent will pay to support his or her child is based on that parent’s income and governed by statutory guidelines. Essentially, an obligor’s child support duty is calculated by adding up all of his or her monthly income, from any source, and determining what amount remains after social security and taxes are subtracted—otherwise known as net income.
Net income is the amount that remains after federal income taxes and Social Security taxes are deducted from the gross income. The Social Security taxes are made up of “old-age, survivors, and disability taxes” which amount to 6.25% of the gross income, as well as “hospital (or Medicare) insurance taxes” which amount to 1.45% of the gross income. After subtracting those small percentages from the gross income, the federal income tax is also deducted, leaving the non-custodial parent with the net monthly income from which child support is calculated.
The child support amount a non-custodial parent will be ordered to pay each month is then based on a percentage of that net income. For one child, the support amount is 20% of net income. Each additional child subject to that order raises the support amount by 5%, and the total amount is capped at 40% of the obligor’s income. If the non-custodial parent is paying child support for other children, or is supporting other children who live with him or her at home, then the percentage paid in child support will be reduced. For example, if there is one child in the case at issue, and the obligor is supporting one other child who are not part of the case, then he or she would pay 17.5% of his or her net income. These guidelines apply to the first $8,550 of net income.
The general guidelines laid forth above and the formulas used can become more complicated by many issues, including whether the parent’s employment or income has changed substantially since the order was signed, who is providing the child’s medical insurance and how expensive that is, and whether the needs of the child have changed. For example, if a child support order is done when the child is quite young, and the child is later diagnosed with a disability or medical or psychological condition that is expensive to treat, child support can go up because of the substantial change in the child’s circumstances.
At CHA Law Group, we understand the complexities behind this seemingly simple explanation. If you are facing any kind of issue involving child support, please contact our firm for a consultation.
