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One of the more challenging issues for separated parents to resolve is arranging for child support. In Pennsylvania, provided that the parents agree, there is often no need to go to court. If one parent sues the other, though, support will be calculated according to state guidelines.
The purpose of child support.
Each parent has an obligation under the law to support his or her children. The “custodial parent” (that is, the parent with whom the children spend the majority of their time) fulfills that obligation by maintaining the household in which the children reside, by paying mortgage or rent, buying groceries, maintaining home utilities, keeping the car running, etc. The “noncustodial parent” usually supports the children by paying a certain amount of money each month into the custodial household according to a set of child support guidelines.
There can be frustrations for both the parent who has to pay, and the parent who gets the payment. The first might question whether the money is actually being used directly for the children, and the other might wonder how to meet the needs of active, growing children even with the support money. All of this can create tension for the children if their parents are careless, especially when one or both parents make the mistake of discussing support woes with them or — worse — trying to enlist them in an effort to influence the other parent. Too many children have to listen to statements like, “Your father the cheapskate would rather spend money on his girlfriend,” or “Talk to your mother if you want that; that’s what I pay support for.” Try not to go there.
The Pennsylvania child support guidelines.
When parents go to court, their net monthly income or earning capacity is determined and then child support is calculated by a formula using a guideline chart to determine the presumed correct amount. As you explore the chart, please realize that the guideline is only a starting point. The support number that you end up with can be affected by many considerations such as children of other relationships, certain expenses, and other factors. Please note particularly that when a noncustodial parent has a high percentage of custody time that can reduce his or her monthly obligation, and that an equally-shared custody arrangement also has an effect. Consulting with a family law attorney can help you ensure that you are taking everything into account.
The Pennsylvania Child Support Program website offers a PA child support calculator. As with any online resource (including this one!), use your best discretion and judgment.
Child Support is based on net income.
Usually, this means starting with your annual gross income (or earning capacity), and deducting only income tax obligations (Federal, Social Security/Medicare, state and municipal), union dues, and mandatory retirement contributions. If you don’t want to work from “ballpark” numbers, here are some handy resources I have found to help you with your calculations:
Jim Lange’s 2018-2019 Tax Planning Card
Simple tax calculator (including municipalities)
2017 Earned Income Credit chart (scroll to page 31 for the actual chart)
Pennsylvania Tax Forgiveness tables
Easy taxes to calculate:
Social Security/Medicare in 2017 is 7.65% of gross annual income below $118,500.
Pennsylvania Income Tax in 2017 is 3.07% of gross annual income.
Pittsburgh municipal wage tax for city residents in 2017 is 3% of gross annual income.
Wage tax is 1% of gross annual income for: Edgewood, Fox Chapel, Homestead, McKees Rocks, Monroeville, Munhall, Murrysville, Oakmont, Swissvale and Verona.
Wage tax is 1.3% of gross annual income for: Mt. Lebanon
Wage tax is 1.75% of gross annual income for: Penn Hills
Calculating basic guideline support.
Note: in Pennsylvania, the person paying support is called the “obligor.” The person receiving support is the “obligee.”
1. Add both parents’ net monthly incomes to get a combined income total.
2. Divide the obligor’s net monthly income by the total from number 1, above. This will give you the obligor’s share of the combined income total.
3. Using the leftmost column of the guideline chart, find your combined income total, and then move to the right, to the column for the correct number of children. This is your combined basic child support obligation.
4. Multiply the combined basic child support obligation by the obligor’s share of the parents’ combined income from number 2, above, to get the obligor’s basic monthly child support obligation.
Example: Let’s assume that there are two children, that Father is the obligor and is earning $2,600 net per month, and that Mother is earning $2,200 net per month. Step 1: We add the two incomes to get a combined total income of $4,800. Step 2: We divide Father’s income of $2,600 by the total, and see that he is making about 0.54 (or 54%) of the combined total income. Step 3: According to the guideline chart, the combined basic child support obligation for two children with a combined total income of $4,800 is $1,325. Step 4: Multiplying that total figure by Father’s share of 0.54 yields his basic monthly child support obligation of $716.
Some helpful information.
Cost of medical insurance. If the obligor is maintaining medical insurance for the children at a cost, he or she should get a discount in basic child support obligation equal to the obligee’s proportionate share of the expense attributable to the children. If the obligee is the one maintaining insurance, there is a similar increase in the monthly support obligation. If the children’s share of the expense is not known, the total monthly cost of insurance can be divided by the number of people covered under the policy, and then multiplied by the number of children being supported.
Unreimbursed medical expenses. Usually, the obligee is held responsible for the first $250 per child, per calendar year, in medical expenses that insurance does not cover (such as copayments). After that threshold is reached, unreimbursed medical expenses usually are divided between the parties proportionately to their respective incomes. Keeping good records of expenses and payment is essential.
Child care costs. Usually, child care expenses that are necessary to enable a parent to maintain employment are considered to be the responsibility of both parents, and will be apportioned between them proportionately to their respective incomes in addition to the basic child support obligation.
Support arrears. In Pennsylvania, child support awards made through the court usually have two components: current support, and payment against any arrears. Arrears can accrue because a support obligation is awarded retroactively to the date of the obligee’s claim, or because the obligor did not pay as ordered.
Earning capacity. Sometimes, a parent can be treated as if he or she earns more than he or she is earning from employment. An earning capacity can be assigned, for example, in cases where a parent has chosen not to work (or works “off the books”) to avoid paying support.
Related articles:
Paying support: a survival guide
I got served with divorce or custody papers in PA. What do I do?
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I’m currently receiving support for my 3 children from my ex. The last time the order was modified they used the income equalization model because our salaries are only about $10k different. My questions are, 1. Why do I have to pay $250 in unreimbursed medical expenses for each child before he contributes when neither he nor I have to pay for their health insurance? This year alone I paid almost $700 in medical expenses. Seems unfair considering we share 50/50 custody and they equalized our incomes. 2. Do I have an argument that they shouldn’t equalize incomes based on the fact they he is now remarried and has a second income in the household? How can I provide for my children as equally as he does if he clearly has more income coming in than I do? 3. My ex got a new job in 2007 while we were still married making $80k a year. We separated in 2010 and I then filed for child support. 2 weeks prior to our first support hearing he claims he took a pay cut and is now only making $68k. His employer has paid him off the books in the past but I have no way to prove this. It’s now 5 years later and he claims he is still only making 68k a year. Can I ask to base the support on earning compacity considering he was making $12000 more a year prior to me filing for support?
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I’ll address your questions in order.
1. The easy answer is, because Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-6(c)(1) requires it: “Unreimbursed Medical Expenses. Unreimbursed medical expenses of the obligee or the children shall be allocated between the parties in proportion to their respective net incomes… medical expenses are annual unreimbursed medical expenses in excess of $250 per person.” In practice, the support guidelines are hard-wired with the assumption that the support recipient will be paying that first $250 per child, per calendar year. Yes, it does seem unfair, but we’re talking about a one-size-fits-all system. It really does try to fit all, but you know how successful that isn’t, in real life. It’s safe to say that you’re stuck with it.
2. Your argument sounds entirely reasonable, but is doomed to failure. This time, we’re looking at Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-4(c)(2): “In all cases in which the parties share custody equally and the support calculation results in the obligee receiving a larger share of the parties’ combined income, then the court shall adjust the support obligation so that the combined income is allocated equally between the two households.” Your ex’s new wife has no legal obligation to support your kids, and her income will likely only be taken into account if your ex complains that he is entitled to a downward deviation in child support because it is too heavy a burden on him. In that instance, you can say, “How heavy can it be for him? There’s another income in his home!” It is, unfortunately, a given that as a single parent, you will not be able to provide as high a standard of living for your children as he can. Fair? Not necessarily, but a Pennsylvania child support court would find it still more unfair to impose a burden of support upon a non-parent simply because she happens to be married to a parent who owes a duty of support.
3. Situations like yours make wish that I had a time machine. Based on my experience, I’m guessing that you’re five years too late to make that argument successfully because either you agreed to, or failed to successfully challenge, the court’s choice to base his income on his post-pay-cut employment when the initial support arrangement was put into place. The family court has the power to impute an earning capacity on your ex if there is reason to do so, but it doesn’t seem likely in a situation where for the last five years he has been making full-time income at the lower rate. If you can’t prove that he’s working off the books — and my rule is, “If you can’t show it, you don’t know it” — you’re probably limited to what the paper trail says he’s presently earning.
Obviously, a definitive response is impossible in this forum based on a limited amount of information, and you might be well-advised to explore the matter in more detail with a child support attorney local to your jurisdiction. One of the things I usually do for a client who is contemplating basing a claim for support modification on an argument like yours is to crunch the numbers thoroughly to get a sense of the potential risks and rewards, as well as the degree to which the game might be worth the prize.
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I recently went to court for a modification hearing. I have a 5 year old daughter that lives with me 100% of the time. I am not currently working and recently got married. My daughter’s father just started his new job. he has 5 other children but no open child support cases . he nets 1,700 a month but receives overtime weekly do you know how the payments will be determined?
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Much may depend on facts not present here, and on how the case was presented. First and foremost, his overtime should be taken into account when calculating his income. Since overtime tends to fluctuate, the court should be using an average income for him, at least six months’ worth. That may not be an option here if he just started his new job, so I would be (a) looking at how his new wages compare to the wages from his former employment, raising questions if it appears that he is now earning less than before, and (b) projecting his current wages with anticipated average overtime to see how my own calculations compare to whatever position about his income that he might take.
It is possible that the court can impute you with an earning capacity it determines that you are reasonably capable of working. That’s not the same thing as saying, “Get a job!” but instead amounts to, “We’re going to calculate support as if you were earning what we think you reasonably could be earning.” It may not make much difference to the final number under the circumstances, because his income is going to influence the final number far more than will yours, based on how the Pennsylvania child support formula works.
The support guidelines contain a hard-wired assumption that, based on overnights, you have custody 70% of the time and he has custody 30% of the time. Since he appears to have few or no overnights you could potentially get an “upward deviation” from the support amount, but the burden is on you to show (preferably by documentary evidence) that his failure to exercise custody is increasing your expenses by a determinable amount.
The biggest challenge is going to come from what is usually called “the multiple family rule,” which offers the opportunity for a proportionate discount when his total PA guideline support obligation to all his children either exceeds half his income, or leaves him with less than the “self-support reserve” (currently, $931 net/month). This will apply even to children who are living with him as part of an intact family unit.
That’s about as far as I can take the analysis on a forum such as this one, or without much more detailed information about your situation. I hope everything works out for you!
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My fiance and I have been living together for 5 years. (Allegheny County) He has three children with his ex-wife. They agreed not to go to court and he was paying her child support willingly. At first we had the children every other week end until 3 years ago she took him to court for Custody and Child Support…He suggested a graduated increase in his over nights until now we have the kids 50 percent of the time, a week on and a week off. The kids go to school in her school district, so we have to drive the kids to and from school every day…other than that we have the same expenses. We would like to get married, but I am concerned about my SSDI being used to raise his child support payments. (She lives with her fiance in Section 8 Housing and they had a baby together last year…her boyfriend pays support for a son he rarely ever sees…her boyfriend is on disability. She lost her job at in December due to business closing)…
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You may find my answer encouraging. You and your fiancee are already living together, so as far as the court is concerned you formed a single household long ago. The mere fact of getting married changes nothing.
Under no circumstances do you, personally, have an obligation to support children who are not your own. Usually, the only role that an additional income in a household plays is as a defense against your fiancee’s argument that the obligation calculated under the Pennsylvania child support formula represents an unfair burden on him because it causes undue hardship.
If his support obligation has not been recalculated since custody became 50/50, it is possible that he might be entitled to a support decrease based on the equally-shared custody. Be warned, though, that making a support modification claim is very much a look-before-you-leap proposition! I have seen cases in which claimants for reduced support leave the courtroom owing more than when they arrived. It might be worth sitting down with a PA child support lawyer for an hour or so to go over the law and crunch the numbers, so that he can make an informed decision. In family law cases, an ounce of prevention often really is worth a pound of cure.
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Thanks so much for your response…It was a surprise to his ex-wife when she took him to court for Child Support that he actually is paying less since going thru the court system. Would your response to my question be any different since he fell into the low income classification? Thank you.
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I have heard of that happening in other cases. No, my response will not change just because his income is low enough to have fallen into the low-income area of the guideline chart. In fact, since he already was calculated as having fallen into that area, it might be more difficult for his ex to try to have him imputed with a higher earning capacity. So much of this is fact-dependent, though, that there is no way for me to offer more than the most general of informational responses.
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My ex boyfriend and I have a 4 yr old together, whereas I am the custodial parent. I also have a 10 yr old whose dad recently passed away. My 6 yr old receives survivors benefits from her dad, will her benefits be included into my income when determining my monthly income?
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In Pennsylvania, benefits paid solely for the support of another child should not be considered as part of your income for purposes of calculating support, any more than would child support payments you received for that child, if her father still lived.
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If my husband’s contract salary as a university professor is $70,000 per year, but he takes on an extra class each semester and has always earned over $85,000 income, is child support only based on the $70,000 because that is considered full time 40 hour/ week employment? Thank you.
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Your husband’s child support obligation will be based on his entire income. As a general rule: if it goes into his pocket, it’s available for support. The idea of the Pennsylvania child support guidelines is to replicate the conditions of an intact family unit, and if overtime income (or what amounts to overtime income) is excluded from child support calculations, it would mean that a parent was profiting at the expense of a child.
Income, for purposes of calculating child support in Pennsylvania, can also include dividends and interest from investments, and whatever he deducts from his own paycheck for non-mandatory retirement fund contributions will be added back when running the numbers.
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My husband has a joint custody order with his ex-wife for his daughter with him having primary physical custody. The custody order did not address health insurance at all, but when his daughter came to live with us we automatically added her to my insurance because we wanted to be sure she had coverage. The daughter has graduated from high school and will turn 18 in August this year. She has recently left our home to live with her mother but no formal change in custody was pursued as she will soon turn 18. We want to remove her from our health insurance after her 18th birthday. My employer will not remove her mid-year unless we obtain some documentation stating that my husband is no longer legally obligated to maintain coverage. Because there was never a legal requirement set forth for him to obtain coverage for her, Domestic Relations says there is nothing to provide because there is no “active” custody case before them. Am I correct in assuming that just as child support ends as of “emancipation” that any requirement to provide health insurance would end as well?
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Let me restate, to ensure that my understanding is correct: (1) your husband’s daughter is now living with her mother, (2) there is no order for child support or other written agreement or court order establishing a requirement for your husband to maintain insurance for her, and (3) she is out of high school and her 18th birthday is next month.
Given that set of circumstances, I know of no legal requirement for him to maintain insurance for her after that date (or now, for that matter, although I would recommend against acting to terminate insurance until after her birthday). I’m not sure this will help you in speaking with your employer, but here is a link to the section of the PA Code stating that no obligation exists to support an emancipated child.
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My wife and I had originally agreed upon a set rate of support for my son. She claims that upon applying for state welfare benefits they forced her to take me back to court to increase my payments to the maximum amount. Is this legitimate? Second, she recently quit her part-time job and has now started working “under the table”. What course of action do I have if she attempts to tell the court she has no income and my payments increase again?
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Your wife’s statement may indeed be legitimate. The moment she gets welfare benefits for your son, the county gets to stand in her place and collect from you to reimburse the public purse. When Welfare is involved, you will generally find that a county solicitor has to be onboard with any agreement that is made. Otherwise, your wife could say, “Well, I’m getting welfare benefits now, so let’s just settle on one dollar per month in support,” and make it stick.
Quitting a job does not generally reduce her income for purposes of calculating support, and the court has the power to “impute” her with income based upon what she could reasonably be expected to earn. It’s not okay to quit a job and then turn out empty pockets when it’s time to hold your hand out for more support money.
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I have one question and have been battling this for several years now. I am self employed. ( contractor) They take my car and truck expenses and add it back on as income when I can prove it is money out to run my business. Why and how can they deviate my federal income tax?
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“Income” for income tax purposes and “income” for support purposes overlap substantially, but are not the same things at all. When I am going through a business tax return there are always “addbacks” such as depreciation (which doesn’t represent money out of pocket), business mileage, etc. The grim reality for business owners who pay support is that certain “blurred line” business expenses (e.g., business use of a personal vehicle and business meals) risk being added back unless you have sufficient documentary proof of the actual dollar expense of actual business use, as opposed to personal use. The better organized your records, and the more clear your presentation to the court, of what is business and what is personal, the more likely that you can minimize such “addbacks.”
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What happens when the custodial parent makes $42k per year and the noncustodial only makes $13k per year? How can the courts make the noncustodial pay more money per month for three children than they even make? If paying support puts the noncustodial parent into undue hardship and now applying for food stamps is that permitted to have the noncustodial parent suffer and not be able to live? (Noncustodial parent has a child whom lives with him from another relationship, and can not even make ends meet now because of paying support for other children).
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Without knowing more about the situation than is possible to address in a forum like this one, the best I can tell you is to gather your paperwork and sit down with a Pennsylvania child support attorney for the cost of an office consultation. While I realize that things are already tight enough without having to pay a lawyer, it may be that there is opportunity to get some relief that you might have missed to the point that your meeting with the lawyer might pay for itself in the form of a reduced monthly payment.
A noncustodial parent who earns less than the custodial parent nevertheless owes a duty of support. However, a support “obligor” (i.e., you) should never have a basic support obligation for all of that party’s children (including children living at home) that exceeds half his or her income, or that leaves him or her with less than the “self-support reserve” (currently in PA, a net monthly income of $931).
It is possible that part of your burden is because you were imputed with an earning capacity, rather than having the court go by your actual earnings; but without access to the documents, there is no way for me to tell you one of the most important things that any lawyer advising you would need to see: what the court thinks is going on, which is always Square One when it comes to evaluating a situation and what opportunities for you may exist within it.
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My fiance has shared 50/50 custody of his children. When we get married does he have to notify the court of this change. I am currently receiving SSDI. Thank you.
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Your marriage to your fiancee is not the kind of substantial change in circumstances that requires reporting, for purposes of PA child support. Whether you are married to him or not, you will never have a legal obligation to support his children. The only circumstances I can think of in which your income is at all relevant to his child support case are either (a) as a defense for your fiancee’s co-parent to use, if your fiancee asks for a downward deviation from the Pennsylvania child support guideline due to hardship (for having another income in his household), or (b) if you will file joint income tax returns, to figure out what portion of your combined tax burden should be attributed to him (for purposes of calculating his net monthly income).
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We have been living together for five years even before his child support went thru the courts …just trying to make sure we understand how things work. He is actually fine paying what he does and isn’t planning on trying to change that. I would imagine it may be best to not file joint taxes especially since he is self employed and his taxes are already complicated? Thank you.
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I can’t offer any insight into how best to file your taxes, I’m afraid. And, you’re most welcome.
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How is it explained that these Domestic Relations rules and codes comply with the Constitution of Pennsylvania or The United States Constitution, since both agree that all men are created equal and have fundamental rights and liberties? Among those rights the right to be self governing is of particular interest.
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There is no conflict at all. A people practicing self-government and an individual seeking freedom from personal responsibility are hardly the same thing, and of course our children have Constitutional rights, too.
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Hello, my husband pays child support to his ex for one child. Now just recently they dropped his older child but kept the amount the same. Mean while the courts dropped his youngest child who is still under the age of 18. Now so he doesn’t get behind on payments we have been writing checks. My question is this we have one child together and one on the way. I make decent money, my husband makes okay money and his ex does not work ( she is supported by her husband) which is fine but is he able to file for a reduction in child support? As I read some of your other questions and answers, if he filed for a reduction my income could possible pulled into the court system. Well could her husbands be pulled in? or would it be better for my husband to just leave it alone? I just don’t understand how the court system can make the non custodial parent get a job but not the custodial parent.
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Your income is safe from becoming a part of his support obligation. As an additional income in the same household it makes it harder for him to claim that his obligation is a hardship, and if the two of you file a joint tax return it will have to be considered simply to figure out what portion of your joint tax obligation is attributable to him so that his net income can be calculated accurately, but that’s about it.
The court is not going to make a custodial parent get a job, but it certainly has the power to impute her with an earning capacity if the circumstances seem to warrant it. Earning capacities can be (and often are) assigned to either party to a child support case in Pennsylvania. The “get a job” concern generally applies to a parent who has been imputed with an earning capacity, but is trying to turn out empty pockets when (s)he is brought into court for failing to meet an assigned support obligation.
It sounds to me like there have been quite a few changes in the situation, that might indicate a support modification prospect; but this is very definitely “look before you leap” territory. If you’re considering a request for modification, you’re well-advised to sit down with a Pennsylvania child support attorney to run the numbers and determine the likeliest best- and worst-case outcomes before you commit to a course of action.
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To just make sure I am understanding all this correctly…Those of us who are the new or soon to be new wives, do not have to worry about our income coming into play as long as the father’s do not try to get a reduction in child support?The ex-wife can’t petition the court “just” because we do have incomes? Thanks for your time!
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You don’t have to worry about your income coming into play AT ALL. A new spouse of a parent with a court-ordered support obligation does not become legally liable to meet that obligation upon marriage. Put simply, you have no legal obligation to support somebody else’s children, no matter what your marital status.
In uncommon circumstances — say, your spouse-to-be got a downward deviation from his support obligation because of unusual hardship — the fact that he moves in with another person who also has an income might mean that his ex could take him back to court because the hardship is reduced. That does NOT mean, though, that you are legally liable, or that your income is also to be used when calculating your husband’s support obligation. That distinction is essential, and is good news for you.
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Thank you so much!
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Hi I just wanted to say that I found your article very interesting. I’ve had many problems with the collection of support in the past and was wondering if you had any suggestions of where to point a custodial parent that may need legal assistance directed toward support issues that cannot afford a full priced family court attorney? Are there any specific resources that this person could utilize to familiarize themselves more with better representing themselves if legal representation is not an option? Thank you for your time!
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In the context of a claim that your ex is in contempt of court for failure to satisfy his or her child support obligation, you might find the help you seek by contacting your County Solicitor’s office to see if you can be represented by a “Title IV-D” attorney. Children are considered to have an independent right to be supported by both of their parents, which is why the program exists in the first place.
If you choose to represent yourself you can certainly do so, but check with your local County Solicitor’s office, first; it might solve the whole problem for you, as the county has an interest in enforcing support obligations.
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My ex wife works full-time. She fails to report her pay stubs to domestic relations in armstrong county. My kids tell me she works and with what child support I do give her still isn’t enough to support my kids. Question is: how do I prove to domestic relations that she is working? At a recent denovo hearing she stated she don’t work. But she lies about it so she can get more money from me. How and which way do I go about proving to domestic relations that she is employed? Thank you justin
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If you know where she is working, you can let Domestic Relations know when you file your next child support modification claim, and they should send a routine wage inquiry when they schedule your conference. It’s a lot to hang your hat on, though, and if it’s worth it you can always have an investigator look into the matter long enough to know where she is working and what kind of work she is doing, so he can testify as to his observations.
It is also common to impute a spouse with an earning capacity, at least full-time minimum wage. Obviously I have no access to the support history associated with your case, but if this was not done the last time you were in court it might be worth exploring why that did not happen. Successfully imputing her with an earning capacity means that (depending on how the numbers compare to what you think she actually might be making) you might not even have to prove that she is actually working; just that she is reasonably capable of doing so.
Before doing anything else, though, it’s a good idea not only to look before you leap (to reduce the likelihood that your claim for modification will backfire on you by increasing your obligation; it happens!), but also to run the numbers (better-case and worse-case scenarios) yourself or with the help of a PA child support lawyer, to make sure that the game is worth the prize. Child support in Pennsylvania tends to be much more heavily leveraged by the paying parent’s income, than by that of the receiving parent, so (depending on how the numbers go) it may be that even substantial changes in her income might make only relatively small changes to the outcome of the PA child support guideline calculation.
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Is it true that the $250 threshold for unreimbursed medical expenses can be waived if the parents have 50/50 joint custody of the children? I don’t see this waiver provision in the Pennsylvania Code.
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There is nothing of which I am aware in either the Pennsylvania Domestic Relations Code or in the PA Rules of Civil Procedure that expressly forbids such a waiver, and if the parents agree I see no reason why it cannot be set forth in the Consent Order that you appear to be contemplating.
That said, in practice I can’t think of an instance (or, for that matter, a reason) for a parent with a support obligation to agree to waive the other parent’s responsibility to pay the first $250 per child, per calendar year of any medical expenses that are not covered by health insurance. The Pennsylvania child support guideline is set up in contemplation of that threshold, so such a waiver would represent a deviation from the guideline amount of child support to the benefit of the “obligee” parent (i.e., the one receiving support).
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To clarify: My ex thinks that she is entitled to such a waiver. She is seeking a modification to an existing support order. There has been no change in circumstances – she just did not understand that she would be responsible for the first $250 of unreimbursed medical expenses per child, per year. Both she and her lawyer signed the order, but now she is claiming that she did not know what that part of the order meant. It is months past the time that she could have filed an appeal, but she thinks she can get this waiver, and have it be enforceable to the date of the original order.
The situation is complicated by the fact that I take the children to the majority of the doctor and dentist appointments, and even if she takes them, she has the doctor bill me. This means I am paying her obligation, and then trying to collect afterwards. Needless to say, the collection effort has been difficult.
My follow-up question: Since this is written in the custody order, is this a contempt issue if she does not pay this $250 per child per year amount? If I did not pay my child support, she would have many options to collect. Do I have similar options?
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Thanks for the clarification. Without access to the paperwork connected with your case it is difficult to say for sure, of course, but the guidelines already contemplate that $250 threshold. I know of nothing in the rules (and presume that there is nothing) that lets her get out of it. It’s there, and she may as well learn to like it. Unless a full three years have passed from the date of the order, the rules indicate that she does need to establish changed circumstances to have the right to a modified order.
As for the issue of your own payment of unreimbursed medical expenses, generally this sort of thing is settled up once per year. Be sure that you keep very good records of the bills you paid and the fact that you paid them; and you will want to make your formal demand of your ex between January 1 and March 31 of the following calendar year, supplying copies of the records (and keeping a full copy of everything for yourself!). Claims for any reimbursement due to you for medical expenses paid in a given calendar year must be made not later than March 31 of the following year. If she does not respond appropriately in a timely fashion thereafter, you do indeed have a contempt issue. Your support order (and in this case, the apportionment of medical expenses that are not reimbursed by health insurance) applies to both of you!
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I am currently paying child support to my kids father. They favored his for primary custody. He only works a part time job. I work a full time job but I do not make a lot of money. He used to work a full time job a few years ago but is now living with his girl friend who makes a significant amount of money. I tried to have my support lowered due to the fact that he only works part time and is more then capable to find either a full time job or another part time job. They denied my claim. Cab I request that they include her income due to the fact that she (his girlfriend) claimed the children on her taxes for the past 2 yrs now
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No, you cannot get his girlfriend’s income included. Only a child’s parents have a duty to support a child. There can be a world of difference between a moral obligation and a legal obligation, but only the latter can be addressed by a Pennsylvania child support court. A court has the power to “impute” income to the father if he is reasonably capable of working full-time, but even if he remarries it will still be only his income or earning capacity that is “in play” to determine your child support obligation.
As it is, generally speaking, even substantial differences in his income might not make that much difference for purposes of calculating your child support obligation; the income of the “obligor” parent (in this case, you) leverages the final number much more than does the income of the “obligee” parent.
Before you make another attempt at support modification, it would be a good idea to run the numbers — either alone, or with professional advice — to make sure that the game is worth the prize. Looking before leaping is always a good idea, when it comes to child support matters.
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In Pennsylvania, in a shared custody arrangement, If the father has the child 200 overnight stays/days per year and the mother only has the child 165 days and overnights, and the mother sues the father for child support, can the courts determine that the mother is the obligee if she does not work and the father makes very good income? Also if the father pays all expenses for the child such as health care, medical bills(which are not much, maybe a couple hundred per year), and extracurricular expenses such as ballet classes ($800/year). The child is 6 and a half years old and for the previous year the child had lived with the father for 5 days a week and the mother only 2, which left the father incurring alot more costs on his own. The father can also prove that he has solely provided for all healthcare costs and medical bills on his own with no help from the mother for the childs entire life even though it was court ordered that the parents split the costs. The custody arrangement just went back to shared custody about 2 months ago and the mother promptly filed for child support even though the father has a good bit more custody per year,. Is there guidelines that defines how many days a parent must have a child to be considered the obligee? I thought the time amount that a child was with either parent was what decides which parent is the obligee? I dont see how it can be legal for them to grant the mother any child support payment or even for that matter wouldn’t it be complete bias for them to say that the mother is the obligee? Shouldn’t the mother be required to help the father with some of the expenses as soon as she starts receiving income and also shouldn’t they designate the father as the obligee?
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If I read your description correctly, there was a change in custody two months ago that put the parents at a 50/50 arrangement, and before that the child was staying primarily with dad. In an instance like that you can expect that even though over the previous twelve months dad had the majority of custody, in the face of a clear change in circumstances the court is going to look at the arrangement right now and moving forward.
If dad still has primary physical custody of his child based on overnight stays (which is to say, a majority of them), however, he should be the obligee and mom should be the obligor, even if dad is a Rockefeller and mom sweeps up outside the local pizza joint.
If you haven’t reviewed the situation with a local child support lawyer, I urge you to remedy that quickly. If you are talking about a case that just came from conference or hearing, you are very likely facing a deadline (usually, 20 days) in which to take action, or lose your opportunity.
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Hi, I have been married 35 years and have done freelance artwork during those years but never earning more than 1,000.00 to 4,000.00 a year. I was basically a stay at home mom and homemaker. I now have health issues and have a written document from my dr. saying that I cannot work. I am getting divorced and have left the marital residence because of abuse through the years. I have photos but unfortunately was never brave enough to call the the police. My lawyer tells me I really don’t have a chance without police records to proove it, even though my children and family are willing to testify. I also got a mortgage deviation of 460.00 a month taken off my spousal support which I do not understand because I no longer live in the residence and have no earnings. I am stuck living with my parents at 54 years of age because of my spousal support not being enough to rent or buy anything, running out of money with my lawyer because my ex is dragging it out, and also do not have the money tp proove abuse. Any suggestions on how to get my ex moving on getting his paperwork into the lawyers to end the divorce and finally see where I will be at financially once this divorce is done? He has been served with divorce papers. My ex also took a lower paying job last year because he inherited 1.5 million dollars which I know I cannot touch. But this also has given me a lower spousal support while he is enjoying his inheritance. I feel I endured 35 years of hell and now got booted out because of my health issues so my ex can enjoy life while I basically live like a pauper.
I live in PA. Have been negotiating with lawyers on this since feb. of 2015.
Thanks
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There is only a very limited amount of information that any lawyer can give you in a forum such as this one, and obviously I have no detailed knowledge of your situation, and I am assuming that your divorce case is proceeding in Pennsylvania (if it is not, the information I provide may not be correct for you!). You say that you are presently represented, so you should “reality check” anything you get from me with him/her since your lawyer is aware of the context of your situation as I am not. That said, here are a few points that may be of use to you:
1. Support is generally a numbers game. It may not be necessary for you to focus heavily on proving abuse, because overall the goal of the court is going to be economic justice, rather than uplifting the downtrodden and smiting the wicked.
2. Don’t depend on your ex doing anything at all; I generally recommend to clients that they take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to their cases. There are many times when one is called to patience in the context of a divorce matter, but in those instances I prefer (and recommend) the patience of the spider, rather than the patience of the martyr. When people speak of the “wheels of justice,” what they don’t tell you is that there is a little crank sticking out of that mighty machine; if no one turns it, the wheels are still. Your lawyer is (or should be) focusing on getting your own case together, making sure that all necessary information and documentation is in place, reality-checking your goals, and advising you how to position yourself best to achieve a favorable outcome.
3. No, I expect that you cannot touch the 1.5 million dollars your ex inherited, given the circumstances you describe… but the interest from a fund of that size should be considerable, and will be treated as additional income to him, for purposes of determining (or recalculating) the appropriate level of support.
I hope you find this helpful.
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Hi,
My Fiancé has a child with his ex and pays child support. His ex lost her job in July, he is wondering since there is no child care (babysitter) and he had to put his daughter on his insurance now if he could appeal to have the amount lowered. We have an infant and with what he pays to her a week its making it almost impossible to pay things because everything is on me.
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Changed circumstances certainly justify recalculation, but it pays to be sure before you act. “Look before you leap” is a good motto for the savvy litigant when it comes to modification of child support in Pennsylvania. Much depends on the facts of the situation and how the numbers work out, so whether he does it himself or whether he sits down with a child support attorney (the better choice, self-serving though it sounds) it’s a good idea to crunch the numbers and get a “better case/worse case” window of expectations before he decides whether to rock this particular boat, or whether instead to leave bad enough alone.
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So, if you are going to go back to school full time and it causes you to leave a full time position for a part time position and you currently have 50/50 custody and pay child support will you monthly payment be lowered?
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Don’t count on it! According to the Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure establishing what constitutes “income” for support purposes, “When either party voluntarily assumes a lower paying job, quits a job, leaves employment, changes occupations or changes employment status to pursue an education, or is fired for cause, there generally will be no effect on the support obligation.” The idea is that a personal decision of this sort, despite a laudable desire to better your situation for yourself and for your children in the long run, in the short-term is going to put a burden on your children. The court is going to frame the question as who must bear that burden: you (who made the choice) or your children (who didn’t make the choice). Looked at that way — frustratingly, in your case — there’s really only one answer.
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Hi in Westmoreland co. P.a. I am owed 21,000.00 in arrears , do they get interest added to them ?
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Generally, support arrears do not accumulate interest in Pennsylvania. Under certain circumstances you can have delinquent arrears reduced to judgment, which could (at least in theory) accrue interest. In practice — and I hate to say this — if things have been so difficult for you for so long that you are owed $21,000 in delinquent support arrears, getting them in the first place is a blessing all its own.
None of that is to say that you should not explore it further; but the caution I often have cause to give my clients is, be very aware that every dollar you pay to a lawyer in this situation pushes your break-even point that much further away in the event of a favorable outcome; and if the outcome is unfavorable, you will have put good money after bad. Dealing in support matters (whether modification, or enforcement) is almost always a look-before-you-leap proposition. The more you know what you are getting into, the more informed your decision will be.
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Is there a limit to how many kids you have in order to not pay child support I have 8 kids and my girlfriend is going to put me on support can she do this
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No one wants to rob Baby Peter to pay Baby Paul, and I see no particular moment when a parent is “off the hook” to support his or her children other than when those children emancipate into adulthood; if a burden has to be placed on the shoulders of either an adult or a child, count on the adult ending up with it every time.
For someone in your situation, there are two main factors that come into play once your income (or earning capacity) has been calculated by the court: the “multiple family rule” that says that if your total guideline support obligation for all your children exceeds half your income, a proportional reduction is appropriate, and the rule indicating that your net monthly income should never be reduced by your guideline support obligations below the “self-support reserve” (as of this writing, $931 per month).
If you are seeking a proportionate reduction based upon either the multiple-family rule or the self-support reserve, it is generally good practice, if possible, to request simultaneous modification of all support obligations at the same time in one consolidated proceeding. On the plus side, you get only one calculation of your income, and a hearing officer or judge doesn’t have to worry that he or she is favoring one set of kids over another by extending a proportionate reduction only for some of your orders; and on the minus side, the day of such a hearing might not be remembered as your most joyful experience.
One thing is certain: LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP. Bring this to a local child support attorney so that he can run support calculations, apply the guideline, and see whether what you might be able to expect is different enough from what you have to be worth pursuing. People who go to support court in Pennsylvania without “reality checking,” first, often have reason to regret their efforts.
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Hello
So i see that childcare costs (so the parent can work) are part of the calculation for the amount of support the obligator pays and should be split between parents. My question is my husband has a child from a previous relationship and pays support. We are marriend and have 2 children that have to go to daycare so we can both work. Will the costs of childcare for these children be taken into account for the support of his first child?
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Interesting question! The nutshell answer is, “Not directly, and possibly not at all.” Your husband faces two barriers.
Barrier number one is that the court rules and child support guidelines are set up so that — in theory, at least — Baby Peter doesn’t get robbed to pay Baby Paul. Unless the total of your husband’s child support obligations (including your children together, calculated as if you had separated and the kids were living with you) exceeds half his net income, there is no discount at all. I refer your attention to subsection (a) of the “multiple family rule.”
Barrier number two is that the cost of the childcare service you and your husband have to pay for your two children at home is excluded from the calculation when a court determines whether the multiple family rule applies. You will see that in subsection (c) of the same rule.
Just because the cost of daycare doesn’t come into play there doesn’t mean that a Pennsylvania child support court doesn’t have the power to consider the expense at all. The court can take it into account when deciding whether to deviate from the basic child support award, under the heading of “unusual needs and unusual fixed obligations,” but — on the flip side — since you are also employed, the support court will also consider “other income in the household” before they decide whether to reduce his obligation below the result of the guideline child support calculation. I don’t know the details of your situation, of course, but based on my reading of the PA rules, in general I wouldn’t bet the grocery money on obtaining a discount on his support.
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Does the Obligor have the right to use one of the two kids for income tax???
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That is up to the child support court, if there is no deal between the parties to allocate child-related dependent tax deductions. In Pennsylvania, the support obligor’s best bet is to prepare exhibits showing that giving him/her one of the kids to declare for tax purposes will maximize the available income for support, which is to say that the combined net monthly income of the parents will be higher under those circumstances.
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My fiance just lost his job as his company closed his division. He received s severance package equal to half of his income. He is now on unemployment. How will the severance package be handled at a support hearing in four weeks?
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For purposes of calculating child support in Pennsylvania, his severance package can be counted upon to be treated as income for as long as it lasts. So can any unemployment compensation. Depending on how the numbers work out he may still be entitled to a reduction, but too much is too dependent on the actual facts and numbers for me to venture any response that would be either certain or meaningful.
One thing that will be very important at his support modification hearing will be proof that he is making a diligent job search. It isn’t his fault that he lost his job, of course, but the best likelihood of a favorable outcome for him comes from his ability to demonstrate that he really is looking for work on a serious basis, rather than casually.
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Dear Mr. Greenstein,
My visitation is currently changing from 2 nights per week to 3 nights per week. Can you please describe how this will change my support order? Thank you in advance.
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Three nights per week will put you at 43% custody, which is past the 40% threshold and therefore puts you in “support discount territory.” When you are running the Pennsylvania child support guideline calculations and have found your combined support obligation, ordinarily you would multiply it by your percentage of the combined net monthly income of you and your co-parent to arrive at your basic child support obligation. Because of your substantial custody, however, you should first deduct 13% from your percentage before you do the multiplication.
That said, be sure that you are using your current net income rather than your income as it was found last time you went to court for child support! Requesting support modification is very much a look-before-you-leap proposition, in that I have seen child support-paying parents leave the courthouse owing more as a result of their own requests for reduction!
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In a 50/50 custody situation, when using the PA child support estimator, what determines the ‘Custodial Parent?’ Apparently this has an enormous effect on the final determination.
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Functionally-speaking, in an exactly 50/50 child custody parenting arrangement the “custodial parent” for purposes of a child support award is going to be the parent earning less money. If you have 43% custody (which is to say, 3 overnights out of every 7), you could be sweeping up at the local grocery store while your custodial co-parent is a millionaire, and you would still be paying child support. When you hit equally-shared parenting, however, the money flows downhill (at a discount) from the parent with more, to the parent with less.
Here is the rule that applies to the situation that you describe, and I direct your particular attention to subsection (c)(2).
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I have had a 50/50 custody arrangement for my 5 year old the last three years and have been paying child support. Recently I was awarded primary custody of my daughter during the school year with 5 out of 7 nights all weeks except for the first week of the month where I have all 7 nights. In the summer I have 1 out of every 3 weeks. I work, pay health care, and after school care. The mother has chosen not to work at all and instead collect welfare. Should I request a termination of the support obligation? I’m worried it will remain in effect or increase because I make more money now than when the order was put in place.
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You’re more patient than I am, that’s for sure. Based only on what you have told me, yes, it sounds like you could certainly stop paying child support and (if your co-parent is assessed an earning capacity) collect it from her, instead, along with a share of your child care costs and medical insurance expense. Obviously I don’t know whether there is some wrinkle in your situation that might change the information I am giving you (such as her having custody of another child who the two of you had together), but the odds seem pretty strong in your favor.
In Pennsylvania, any termination of a child support obligation is only retroactive to the date you actually request it. Any delay on your part is not held against the other parent, and the child support court will view the additional payments you have been making to her as if you had given her a gift (i.e., there’s no “bonus round” in which it gets returned to you).
It doesn’t matter that you make more money than she does. As far as the PA child support guidelines are concerned, you are now discharging your child support obligation by maintaining the home in which your daughter primarily resides. Your child support award is not about your ex, it’s about your daughter… and having to pay your ex would amount to draining money *away* from your daughter’s home, which is not what the law is for!
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My ex gave our son her last name and kept me off birth certificate. Im in PA and applying for visitation. Know ill wind up being taken for child support but how will they calculate it?
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Child support in Pennsylvania is based on a guideline formula that draws on your net monthly income, and hers. The article above has links to some useful resources that include a child support calculator, and for the more adventurous offers the means to do your own estimated support calculations.
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Scott is your ex on welfare? if not do not respond to any child support documents its a fraud.
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Let me use special emphasis here: WHAT DARIN SAYS IS NOT TRUE. IT IS NOT EVEN REMOTELY TRUE, AND FOLLOWING THIS ADVICE WOULD BE VERY DANGEROUS. WHEN YOU IGNORE COURT DOCUMENTS, BAD THINGS HAPPEN.
When a separated parent in Pennsylvania applies for welfare benefits for his/her children and gets them, that parent is generally compelled to file for child support. It’s the same support court that everyone else goes to, the same guidelines are used, and the same rules apply; the only differences are that the County will collect the money instead of the parent as at least partial reimbursement for the benefits they provide, and that no agreements between the parents regarding support are valid unless the County agrees, as well (in other words, no agreeing to $1 per month!).
If you are served with support paperwork and imagine that it is fake (a) you are almost certainly wrong about that, (b) any Pennsylvania lawyer who handles child support cases can verify it through his computer, (c) you can probably verify it yourself, and (d) who in the world would bother to fake a child support filing that says to show up in court on a particular date and time?
To quote Mark Twain: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
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What does the intent of Congress say about the Child support?
Can you show some Supreme court cases that establish the intent?
Does the Child Support agency receive federal funding for enforcing the orders they put in place and if so how do they work?
If they receive federal funding for enforcing child support and they are the ones creating the orders wouldn’t that be considered a conflict of interest?
I would love to hear some truthful answers to these questions.
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Child support guidelines are set by the states, not by the Federal government, so Congress isn’t involved. Such matters are not within the powers granted to the Federal government by the U.S. Constitution. For most purposes of family law, fifty states might as well be fifty independent countries, because each state has its own domestic relations code. This means that from my perspective as a Pittsburgh child support attorney, Ohio or West Virginia might as well be Timbuktu. Pennsylvania’s child support guidelines are established by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court as part of the Rules of Civil Procedure.
Child support orders generally are enforced by the Court of Common Pleas of the Pennsylvania county that issued the order in the first place. There is no “child support agency” that does so, unless you’re thinking of the PA State Collection and Disbursement Unit (PA SCDU) that does exactly what its name suggests, and makes appropriate information available to local courts for purposes of identifying delinquent support obligations.
I have no idea whether there is any Federal funding involved, and unless you find conspiracy theories entertaining it has precisely nothing to do with establishing or enforcing a Pennsylvania child support obligation.
Finally, “conflict of interest” has as much to do with dealings between the Federal Government and Pennsylvania’s government as might the number of shark attacks off the Australian coast in the average year. It’s a matter of power allocation; and Federal preemption (which is what happens when a valid Federal law conflicts with a valid State law) only applies to matters within the power of the Federal government.
So yes, painful though it can be, people who owe child support in Pennsylvania really do have to pay it, and if they don’t pay it they can find themselves in trouble courtesy of an annoyed Pennsylvania judge. If you imagine that you have found some sort of “Seven Court Hacks Your Judge Doesn’t Want You to Know” loophole that gets you out of your child support obligation, your day in court might look a little like this…
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Good evening, was looking for info on how Pa. (specifically Allegheny Co.) handles a case where the father owns his own business for example:
the owner of the business (the father) shows a gross income of $50,000 a yr, however out of that he has purchased materials to perform the jobs so his actual net would be 35,000 ( a $15,000 difference, not including taxes).
Does Allegheny Co. take into account the cost of running the business, or is it still the same Child support formula that only accounts for tax deductions?
Pleas note these are just income examples.
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It’s not about how Allegheny County handles matters (although what I say certainly applies to Allegheny County, which is where my office is located), as my answer is standard to Pennsylvania child support cases when business income must be calculated. Yes, the cost of running your business must be taken into account.
Take a peek at the rule regarding calculation of net income for support purposes, most notably subsection (a)(2). To arrive at net income one must first calculate monthly gross income, which includes “net income from business or dealings in property.” So, it is your NET business income (i.e., after deduction of business expenses) that is treated as part of your gross personal income.
It’s not always simple when it comes to calculating that net business income, however. There are usually “addbacks” such as depreciation, which lowers your income for tax purposes but which doesn’t represent out-of-pocket expenditure to you. Your Schedule C (or corporate tax return, or Schedule K-1, etc.) is a starting point, but not always the end of the analysis.
Many such matters in which business income is involved — and this certainly happens in Allegheny County support cases — end up being declared “complex,” which can mean more involved fact-finding and a longer hearing. You can minimize the impact (and probably, your legal expenses) by keeping excellent records that are fully-documented. Hearing officers and judges are as human as anyone else, and a clearly-understandable organized presentation of your business assets and expenditures will get you much, much further than a slapdash collection of receipts and a Schedule C that doesn’t correlate to anything else. When it comes to business income determinations, you can expect lawyers and court personnel to apply what I call the “leftovers test”: lift the lid to take a close look and give it a sniff, and if something doesn’t look or smell right, don’t swallow it.
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Hello my name is Don I was wondering if you could answer a question for me. On June 25 2016 my son was rushed to the hospital because while my son’s mother was changing his diaper he rolled off the bed ( that’s what she said) he ended up fracturing his femur above his knee. Cys was called at the hospital and they took custody of my son. We went to court and my son’s mother was founded of child abuse and anything they were trying to do to me was dropped. Today I found a letter from domestics saying they had a hearing last week and I wasn’t there which I was never told about it. This is the first letter I got from them. They want my income level so they can take child support from me. My question is if I didn’t do anything to my son why am I the one who has to pay the child support to Cys? Is there anything i can do? Thank you for your time have a nice day!
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You have to pay child support for your son because in Pennsylvania, child support is a right that belongs to your son, not to either of his parents. Since (as you indicate) child protective services has custody of your son, they likewise may exercise the right to support on his behalf. I would not be surprised to learn that a similar action has begun against your child’s mother.
I have particular concern over your lack of notice about family court proceedings, and urge you to be proactive to determine what happened, where you stand, and what your options might be. That almost certainly means sitting down with a local family law attorney who handles child custody and support cases, sooner rather than later.
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My husband and his ex have 50/50 custody of their 2 children. She is the representative payee for disability payments for one child. She has applied for, been denied, and appealed for benefits for their other child. She is expected to get a large lump sum if she wins the appeal. If she does gain these benefits as the representative payee, her income will be greater than my husband’s, so his child support obligation should then cease (after filing for modification of course). My question is, since the lump sum will be for benefits that would have essentially cancelled his support obligation starting from two or so years ago, does this mean that he should be entitled to some of these benefits?
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Without the paperwork in front of me it is difficult to say with certainty, but since the benefits will be retroactive my first effort would be to see whether I could convince the assigned judge to open the door to a similarly retroactive support re-determination.
Here is a link to the rule of court relating to the effective date of child support orders in Pennsylvania. Ordinarily any petition for child support modification made through the court will only date back to when the modification petition was actually filed; as a rule, the court will not penalize the requesting parent for its own delay in scheduling, but they don’t generally grant “freebies” by extending retroactivity to a date prior to the filing.
In a case such as you describe, however, my instinct is to invoke that portion of the rule I have linked that says, “However, a modification of an existing support order may be retroactive to a date preceding the date of filing if the petitioner was precluded from filing a petition for modification by reason of… other compelling reason and if the petitioner, when no longer precluded, promptly filed a petition.”
If you were to try this route, once the benefits are approved and the effective date of those benefits has been established I would urge your husband to prompt action to float the request for extended retroactivity past the assigned judge at Motions Court, at the same time requesting that the lump-sum retroactive benefit payment be escrowed pending determination of the retroactive credit due to your husband. Time is of the essence given the “promptly filed a petition” language.
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Does changing amount of custody change support? My ex is wanting to ask for 50/50 custody (from me having 80%), hoping to reduce how much he pays. How does that work?
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The moment the “obligor” parent (the one paying support) has more than 40% physical custody based on overnight stays (and to put it into perspective, having 3 overnights out of every 7 is 43%) puts that parent in “discount” territory.
Pennsylvania uses an “income shares” model to calculate child support, in that the obligor parent’s percentage share of the parents’ combined net monthly incomes is also his/her percentage share of their shared child support obligation. In effect, the primary custodial parent is discharging his/her child support obligation by maintaining the child’s primary residence, and the other parent discharges his/her obligation by paying into that residence. Once the 40% mark is hit, however, the support guidelines allow that parent to keep some of that support money to be able to maintain the child’s other residence. The discount grows as the percentage of custody moves toward 50/50.
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Does this calculator apply to 50-50 shared custody?
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Not directly; as far as I can tell, not even if you check the box saying, “Does the child(ren) spend 146 overnight visits or more during the year with the Noncustodial Parent(NCP)?”
If you don’t mind juggling numbers, though, there’s a quick-fix that will give you the right number, anyway. When you get to the page where the calculations are run and your estimated obligation is offered, you will see that line 5 says “Basic Child Support Amount” and that line 7 says, “Total Net Monthly Income as Percentage.” Identify the percentage for the parent who is earning more money, reduce it by 20%, and multiply it by the basic child support figure in line 5. That will give you the guideline amount of support in a 50/50 shared physical custody situation.
That may not be the end of your analysis, however. For 50/50 custody situations only, if the amount of money that would equalize the net incomes of both parents is less than the guideline support figure, the lower number is appropriate.
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