Be careful, this one certainly depends on the law in your state. Child support calculations are purely statutory and the formula is complex. From what I have seen, few areas of law vary as much from state-to-state. Talk to a family law lawyer in your state if you don’t understand the formula. Please.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: lawyers often have trouble understanding the child support calculation formulas. They are confusing! Lawyers went to law school to be lawyers, not mathematicians. When I look at the actual formula for calculating child support in my state, my eyes immediately start to glaze over. However, I know more than the average person on the street and I’m going to try to share some of my knowledge.
The Child Support Calculation
In the state where I practice law, the child support laws were modified and rewritten in the late 2000s. I practice law in what is known as an “income sharing” state. Interestingly, the majority of states in America use some form of the income shares model.
Income sharing takes into account the income of both parents, the time the parents spend with their children, the needs of the children and, finally, children from prior relationships or marriages. Huh? I find that a little ambiguous, don’t you?
Here is what you should know: the income shares model and the underlying laws are based on a the premise that parents must always contribute to the support of their children. Once you know that, know this: most states have some form of online calculator system for entering income and determining child support. I won’t include all of the links for every state here, but you should check with an attorney in your state or simply do a search on a search engine for “child support calculator” in your state.
What is the Definition of “Income”?
Again, this varies from state-to-state. One definition of “income” as it pertains to calculating child support is:
Gross income minus allowable deductions for non-joint children
Income can come from any source of periodic payment; including: wages, unemployment, annuity, retirement, pension and disability payments. Easy, right? Just figure out what each parent’s gross income is using current pay stubs, W-2s, tax returns, etc and then deduct what you can.
What can you deduct? This is where things get complicated. A good divorce lawyer will be able to come up with many arguments that may or may not be persuasive to a judge. However, there are certain deductions that are typically automatically allowed.
What Deductions are Allowed When Determining Child Support?
The clearly enumerated factors are things like: court-ordered maintenance or alimony, prior non-joint child-support obligations for non-joint children, work expenses, medical expenses (health insurance payments), and other possible necessary expenses.
It is important to remember that a judge may not allow all possible deductions. Although some deductions are required to be allowed by a judge, the others are discretionary.
One reason that a judge won’t allow a deduction is because one of the parties may be hiding assets or income so they don’t have to pay support. Judge’s don’t like this kind oh behaviour.
In the end, calculating child support is mostly clearly defined by law, but a good Minnesota divorce lawyer should be able to make good, sound legal arguments about why child support should be greater or lesser depending on who they are representing. Trying to represent yourself is probably not a good idea. But, if you do, I hope this post helped you.
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