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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?
If you need legal assistance with your divorce or family law matter in Southwestern Pennsylvania, call us to set up a personal consultation. Please do not comment anonymously, and do not post anything that you consider confidential. We try to be responsive to commentary and questions, but know that posting here will not create an attorney/client relationship and that we will not offer legal advice via the Internet.
Does child support from another child support order count as income when figuring how much child support would be owed for the other children?
No, it does not. A good rule of thumb when thinking about these matters (in Pennsylvania, anyway) is that courts want to avoid robbing baby Peter to pay baby Paul. So, if the parent receiving support for your child is also receiving support from someone else for another child, that money will not be considered “income” when determining your own support obligation. If the shoe is on the other foot in that you are paying support for a child of another relationship there still is generally no discount, unless your remaining income falls below a certain threshold level or your total guideline obligation for all your children exceeds half your income.
Does my boyfriend’s income affect the household income and how much I would receive from my ex-husband for child support? Even though we live together, we do not share anything financially. Nor, does he support my child or pay for any of her expenses.
Your boyfriend’s income should have no direct impact on the child support determination, because he has no legal obligation to support your child. Generally, an extra income in the household only comes into play if you take the position that you need extra support because your expenses are unusually high; then, your child’s father gets to defend against that claim by pointing to the extra income in your household as evidence that things can’t be as hard as you say.
Why does 1 child get more money then another child? Why is that fair? My story is that the father has my son and two other children (same mom) why does their kids get $75 a piece and mine $45?
It probably has to do with the level of combined income of each set of parents. Each guideline calculation (for each set of parents, that is) is performed independently, with an eye toward making sure that the child(ren) of those parents are treated as similarly as possible in comparison to other children whose parents are in the same income range… NOT so that they are treated similarly to others who might be in the same blended household. Typical of any “one size fits all” arrangement, unfortunately, there will always be instances (such as yours) where the result seems unfair.
HELLO , MY 16 YEAR OLD SON IS IN A COUNTY TREATMENT FACILITY FOR 6 MONTHS, I WAS HIT WITH SUPPORT INFO , HOW DO THEY CALCULATE THAT AND WILL THE FATHER HAVE TI PAY AS WELL
They usually calculate your obligation using only your income (as if the other parent was earning no money). The guideline chart for Pennsylvania support is here. The leftmost column is your net monthly income, and the one immediately to the right is the presumed correct amount of monthly support for one child. Find your income (rounding down to the nearest multiple of $50), and the number in the next column is what you may have to pay. The odds are strong that both you and the child’s father are being sued.
I hope things work out for your son. It sounds like he’s going through a rough time.
How is the math done for multiple family situations?
Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-7 is often called the “Multiple Family Rule.”
Child support in Pennsylvania is set up to avoid a situation in which Baby Peter is robbed to pay Baby Paul, so generally there will not be a “discount” because the person paying child support has one or more children of other families to support, as well. If, however, his total child support obligation (using separate guideline calculations for each family) exceeds half his income or leaves him with less than $867 per month, he can ask for a proportionate discount. His support obligation toward a newer, intact family will be calculated just like his other obligations, by pretending (for purposes of the calculation) that he and his present co-parent have separated.
If I am married, will my spouse’s income have any factor in determining the child support payment?
Not at all. Your spouse has no legal obligation to support your children. The only time your spouse’s income will be taken into account is to oppose any claim of yours that financial hardship should lower your child support payment (or increase your support entitlement).
Does MY income affect the household income? We are married. And I make double the money my husband makes(I am also active duty Army, somebody told me they usually don’t mess with a Soldier’s pay) Will they combine our checks when he goes to court for Child support?
No, your income does not enter into the calculations. Why? Because you have no obligation under Pennsylvania law to support somebody else’s child. The income you bring in can be considered, though, if your husband were to claim that he should have a reduced support obligation (or if the children are with him, an increased support payment) due to financial hardship; because the fact that there is a second income in the household can blunt that particular argument.
Thanks for reading!
What law specifically says this, where can I find it because I need to be able to show this.
Thanks
You’ll find it here.
Hi..I have jus been hit with a support order in which she was granted support based on the formula described…I also noticed this…( 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.)
My question is if she lives with her parents and pays no rent/ utilities/groceries how can that formula be fair to me? PAfter i get my check n pay half my rent it leaves me about ..235 to pay electric…130.00.. car ins..55.00.. phone 90.00.. Then we have food for myself and my son I have custody of..I just dont get it…
I can’t offer you much hope for an argument based primarily on the payee’s relatively low living expenses. “Fair,” for good or ill, has little to do with it. The child support guidelines are a complex system that attempts to suit itself to differing circumstances in a consistent manner, but in the end it’s still one-size-fits-all. The result of applying the guideline formula to the parents’ incomes is presumed to be the correct support award, subject to some exceptions.
There are two rules of court that may offer such exceptions in situations like yours, although in your case it sounds like the water is already under the bridge. The first is often called “the multiple family rule,” which says (among other things) that if a parent’s total guideline obligation for all of his children exceeds half his income, he might be able to get a pro rated discount.
The second rule has to do with what a court must consider when ruling on a parent’s claim to deviate either up or down from the guideline amount of support.
I hope this helps.
Hi Mr Greenstein,
I’ve been recently given an earning capacity of twice my salary by the PA courts for child support. This is only for one child and for child support only, not alamony, I was never married. I’m a music teacher who makes 32,000 a year. I take care of my son and all his needs. I can understand if the courts are saying I need to make more, i try to make more money by taking small jobs on the side, but the courts gave me an earning capacity of $60,000.
Is this fair?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Without knowing much more about your situation, all I could offer would be the same kind of answer that anyone on the next barstool could give you. If you were imputed an earning capacity within the last twenty days, there may still be time to challenge it; otherwise, you might be stuck with that award for a while. To the extent that “fair” comes into the mix at all, no lawyer is going to be able to evaluate that for you objectively without knowing something similar to what the court would know when judging your case.
My guess is, you got stung by the rule of court that says, “If the trier of fact determines that a party to a support action has willfully failed to obtain or maintain appropriate employment, the trier of fact may impute to that party an income equal to the party’s earning capacity. Age, education, training, health, work experience, earnings history and child care responsibilities are factors which shall be considered in determining earning capacity. In order for an earning capacity to be assessed, the trier of fact must state the reasons for the assessment in writing or on the record. Generally, the trier of fact should not impute an earning capacity that is greater than the amount the party would earn from one full-time position. Determination of what constitutes a reasonable work regimen depends upon all relevant circumstances including the choice of jobs available within a particular occupation, working hours, working conditions and whether a party has exerted substantial good faith efforts to find employment.”
My divorcing spouse and I have a unique situation where we are filing for 50:50 joint custody. Therefore, we are both custodial parents. We both own separate homes, and the two children have their own room at each house. How is child support adjusted for joint custody if the custody awarded is 50:50? We do have different incomes. Is the awarded amount cut in half because the children are only with the other parent 1/2 of the time?
In Pennsylvania, the support guidelines treat 50/50 custody as a special case. The parent earning more still pays the parent earning less, but at a reduced amount. Ordinarily, you calculate support by calculating the higher-earning parent’s proportionate share of both parents’ combined incomes, and then multiplying it by the combined child support obligation according to the guideline chart; in a 50/50 situation, you reduce that percentage by 20 before you do the multiplication (e.g., 66% becomes 46%). Also, in that situation alone support will never be greater than the amount that would equalize the income of the two households. Here is a link to the Rule of Civil Procedure that spells it out, and I direct your particular attention to subsection (c).
How long alimoney is for ,or when it should finish
There is no fixed period for alimony in Pennsylvania; instead, there are — literally — seventeen different factors that a court is expected to consider when deciding whether alimony should be awarded, and for how long. Here is a link to my article that focuses on alimony.
Does Bank Accounts and Stocks Count Towards Child support Payments?
Generally, existing assets aren’t treated as income except to the extent that they make money for you. Interest income, dividends, etc. are all income for purposes of calculating support. NEW assets, such as stock options you get as part of your compensation, are a different matter entirely… those will be treated like income.
I have two questions. First is how will my ex’s two new children affect my child support? For instance I do not have an income and sole supported by my husband, my ex has an income and his wife does not. My ex and I have only one child together. Next question is my husband carries the health insurance for my son. Will they use the amount my husband pays for my son on insurance to factor in or will they not because I don’t personally have the coverage.
Generally, your ex’s children will only affect your child support if one of two things are true: either his total guideline child support obligation (including to his new children) exceeds half his income, or if his total guideline obligation leaves him with less than the “self support reserve” of $867 each month.
If there is an additional cost to your husband to pay for support for your son that wouldn’t be incurred otherwise, I think you have a fair shot at claiming your ex’s proportionate share of the expense. It’s not a guarantee — there aren’t many guarantees when you step into family court! — but if you are going to be in court anyway to address support you should certainly raise this (and have documentation handy!).
My Ex and I share 50/50 custody of our daughter. My percentage of our combined net income is 62%. I understand that it is reduced to 42% when calculating my support obligation. I think it is reduced because the support guideline chart is based on the obligor having custody 2 days out of 7 (~30%). Our custody schedule is about to change and I will have primary custody. My daughter will be with her mother every other weekend; she will be with me 12 days out of 14 instead of 7 days out of 14. Will I be entitled to support and how is it calculated? Thank you.
Since your daughter will be with you more often than with her mother, based on overnights, my answer is a clear “yes,” you will be entitled to support. The first thing you will want to do is to shut sown your own support award, since if you let it ride, the court will consider that you are simply giving a gift to your ex; modifications (including termination) are only retroactive to the date you actually claim it.
Support will be calculated according to the regular guidelines, based on your net monthly income/earning capacity and your ex’s. Gender has nothing to do with it at all. You are becoming the primary custodial parent, and your entitlement to support will be calculated just as anyone else’s.
A word of warning: an old case of mine comes to mind that resembled yours. Daughter moves from Mother’s house to Father’s house, and Father immediately acts to shut down his support award and claim support from Mother. Mother tells Daughter, “Do you know what your father is doing to me because of you?” Daughter confronts Father with, “How could you do this to my mother?” and moves back in with Mother.
Hi Michael, I enjoy your blog.
My Ex and I share 50/50 custody of our child. Our Combined Adjusted Net Iincome is ~$13K; 61% me and 39% her. I understand how to calculate my current support obligation. However, the custody schedule is about to change and my Ex will only have custody every other weekend.
The Monthly Basic Child Support Schedule assumes the obligor has custody 30% of the time (~2days/week), but my Ex will have custody 15% of the time (~1day/week). Should her percentage be 41%, 56% (41%+15%), or something else? Is it limited because of our income differences (~$8K vs. ~$5K).
Thank you.
David
The support guidelines have the hard-wired presumptions you mention, but there’s no automatic increase just because your ex’s custody goes below the ‘assumption threshold.’ That means that if you’re asking for an increase in support based on having your child more often than 30% of the time, you’re not hanging your hope on the guidelines themselves, but rather upon the rule that provides for deviation from those guidelines if the court agrees it is appropriate. Here is a link to the rule covering deviation.
The successful deviation argument is probably not so much based on relative time with the child, but rather upon any clearly-established increase in expenses associated with it that justifies an increase. In most cases, I think that’s a fairly high threshold to meet because the court just wants to apply the the guidelines and move on to the next case.
Mr. Greenstein:
I recently found out my ex took a 93,000 withdrawal from her 403(b) in 2010 to purchase a home and do extensive upgrades. She has failed to notify the court of many, many changes in income and expenses in the last few years. I am filing a Petition for Modification and would like to show the court as many examples of her “omissions” as possible. Should the 403 money have counted toward income? I am not asking based on any financial numbers, just as another example of her dishonesty? The withdrawal seems to have been very carefully timed, occurring just a few weeks after she took me back for a modification hearing. Thank you
It is important in matters like this to be able to draw the line between “asset” and “income.” If you sell your car and spend the money out on the town, it would still be tough to characterize the sale proceeds as “income” unless you got more for the sale than you paid in the first place. Assets can produce income, but generally they are not themselves characterized as income unless they are being used as a substitute for income. With a retirement asset such as your ex’s 403(b), the usual measure of the asset’s gross income is going to be its average monthly increase in value, whether due to employer contribution, dividends, interest, etc. For the sake of thoroughness, though: I have seen at least one court that leaned toward buying into your idea that the withdrawal amount is the measure of income, although professionally I tend come down on the other side of that question. I realize that I am arguing both sides here, but overall I would want to crunch the numbers a couple different ways and know more about the other omissions before advising you whether to go forward, and how. Something to keep in mind: you can potentially get retroactive modification prior to the date you ask for it (which is unusual), but only if you act promptly after learning about her income changes.
Thank you for your prompt response. Would you be able to tell me if the court that leaned toward buying into my idea was in PA and if so the name of the case? Having something to research and possibly present to the court would be very helpful. At this point financially I am unable to hire an attorney so I am on my own.
There’s nothing to research, I fear; the case I mentioned is one that I handled at the Common Pleas level, and there is no published opinion to reference.
This rule may help you understand matters a little better; you will see that one of the definitions of “income” for purposes of support is “pensions and all forms of retirement.”
I hope that helps!
I am in a Lupus support group. we have a member who is unable to work due to her health and who has applied or disability but habit had a response yet. she has two young children the youngest of whom has just been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Her husband offers no help and sits around and drinks and hollers – doesn’t drive her to spots when she shouldn’t drive, doesn’t go with her to the ER for her or the children – he is very uninvolved. Tonight he hit her. He is a volunteer officer and he holds this over her apparently. He believes she and the children will be without income because he says he won’t pay-because she’s not working- she has a laundry list of things wring with her and she really needs help around the house- he does nothing. I live in another state -where I live she should get maintenance as well as child support since she is medically unable to work. What is her position in PA. She is feeling very hopeless.
Physical safety for herself and the kids must always come first. She should consider going after a Protection from Abuse order (“PFA”), and FOLLOW THROUGH WITH IT. She should also investigate local shelters for victims of domestic violence, and explore what welfare benefits might be available for her and the kids.
Technically, a Pennsylvania court considering a PFA has the power to award interim support, although in practice it is fairly uncommon and dangerous to depend on. She should get documentation of his income to offer the court if she decides to give it a try. If she has friends who can offer her short-term help or other resources to help her get through a few “dry” months until she can start getting support, that could be tremendously important.
All I can offer here is the most general of information, knowing as little as I do about her personal situation and goals. I hope it helps.
I was paying child support to my ex girlfriend , my current wife is totally disabled along with my 19 month old son. My income has dropped because its difficult for me to work. Can i get my child support reduced? I need help ,
An involuntary reduction to your income is indeed grounds to request a support reduction in Pennsylvania. Obviously I don’t know much about your personal circumstances, but I generally advice clients in your situation to “run the numbers” to get a sense of what your revised obligation would look like, if you win. That will tell you how much less you might have to pay each month, to give you a sense of whether the reduction is enough to be worth fighting for. The big fight for your case, if it happens, will probably be over whether you are reasonably capable of earning more than you presently make.
Particularly relevant for you, since you have another child at home, is what is often called the “multiple family rule.” If your support order is more than 19 months old (i.e., the age of your son) and your income is low enough that this rule comes into play, you might be entitled to a discount. The idea is that the court wants to ensure that all children are taken into account, because no one wants to rob Baby Peter to pay Baby Paul. Also, the court rules say that you need to be left at least with a “self-support reserve” of $867 net per month.
Be aware that any change to your support obligation, as far as the court is concerned, will only date back to the date you file your request for the change. Courts will not penalize you for their own scheduling delays, but they won’t penalize your ex-girlfriend for your own delay in filing.
If the custodial parent were to take on a second job would the paying parent be able to get child support reduced based on that income?
Yes, but with an important qualification. “Income,” for support calculation purposes, is all income from any source. That said, though, I think you’re going to find that it isn’t anywhere near a dollar-for-dollar reduction if the custodial parent starts earning more. Changes to the payor’s income have far more leverage on the guideline support calculations than do changes to the payee’s income. Depending on the relative income levels, even major changes to the payee’s income often make a difference in the final support figure that amounts to the price of dinner for two… the only question is whether that means dinner at a diner or at a high-end restaurant. It’s always a good idea to run the numbers yourself; use the link to the PA child support calculator (in the article above) to see how the number changes when you keep the payor’s income constant and vary the payee’s income.
Hi. I have primary physical custody of my daughter. She does spend 5 nights out of 14 with her father. I have finally taken him to court for a modification of the support order because he was barely paying anything even though his income at least tripled 7 years ago. He was very upset about that and has even filed for modification of custody because he wants to reduce his support payments. Is it true that the child support I receive from him now is supposed to cover everything for her? Every single thing? I’m asking because my daughter asked him to pay for a school trip $30 and he told her that I had to pay for it and he emailed me saying the child support he pays covers everything. I just want to be sure. He hasn’t even bought her a uniform for school for when she goes from his house.
The support guidelines contemplate that the parent paying the support will still spend something on the child, at least when the child is in his custody; food, etc. If he is determined to pinch his pennies until Lincoln screams, the decision you have to make is whether to claim an “upward deviation” from the guideline amount to cover these additional expenses. My suggestion is: first and foremost, give some thought to what kind of contribution you might have expected from him, averaged per month, and see whether his proportionate share of that total is enough to justify the aggravation of going back to court to have a shot at obtaining. You would have to be prepared to prove the expenses.
My Daughters Father Has Been Out Of A Job But Is Collection Unemployment. HIs MonthlyiIncome Is About 200 Hundred Dollars Less Then MyNet Income. He Lives With His Parents With Not Much ResponsibiliEs Other Than His CreDit Cards, I Pay Mortgage, Bills And Provide Food WHich Takes Up 90% Of M Earning Income.Would He Still Be Required To Pay Out Of His Unemployment, How Would THat Be Calculated?
As long as your daughter spends the majority of overnights with you, you can still claim child support from him even though he earns less than you do. His unemployment compensation will likely be the measure of his income, unless he has the kind of job that is seasonal or periodic in nature (e.g., he works in construction, or out of a union hall), in which case his income is more likely to be measured as a monthly average of his total income for twelve months.
Ive recently obtained proof that my ex has been reporting inaccurate childcare costs to the court and not reporting when any of the expenses have dropped. In 3 years my share of the “overcharge” is 6500.00. I have filed a petition to modify but can I expect to get credit for all these overpayments as I have recently discovered them? Is recently discovered the right way to present it to the court? Thank you.
“Recently discovered” is not only a right approach, it may be essential. Take a peek at subsection (a) of this rule.
Ordinarily, any support modifications are retroactive only to the date you file to request the change, for reasons of due process. As the above-linked rule 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 a significant physical or mental disability, misrepresentation of another party or other compelling reason and if the petitioner, when no longer precluded, promptly filed a petition.”
Take a look at the last page of your support order, and I think you will find an affirmative duty imposed upon both of you to report substantial changes in circumstance, with the prospect of penalties for failing to do so.
Hey my daughter is 5 and her mother just got a new job. So before school my daughter must go to a day care for 2 hours before and after. Im paying out of check and in full paying for her health care. Now am i forced to pay for any of this day care or how dpes this work
Unfortunately for your situation, in Pennsylvania child care expenses that enable a parent to maintain employment are considered the responsibility of both parents, over and above the regular child support amount. The good news is that if your co-parent has increased earnings, you might be entitled to a reduction in your basic support obligation on that basis. Whether the net change increases or decreases your monthly obligation is something I am unable to tell based on the little I know about your circumstances.
My ex is constantly trying to lower his support payments (he never wins because numbers are numbers) and is now threatening moving to third shift 11pm-7am and wants to pull my 3 year old out of day care and my 6 and 8 year old out of before and after-care since he will be home during the day to watch them. He lives 15 mins away and would need to pick them up from me by 7:15am and drop them off by 5:45pm when I return from work…making 8 trips back and forth throughout the day. My concern is his lack of sleep, my son needs daycare and I’ve had numerous issues with him harassing myself and my boyfriend. He’s been charged twice, not to mention always making it about money saying he can’t afford to live. It’s clear it’s about money and not wanting to spend time with the kids. He is very unstable, on depression meds, threatens suicide, has a temper, owns guns and hates me. He speaks ill of my boyfriend and I around the kids constantly. I have numerous emails and texts to back up all my claims. We have a typical custody agreement. I have physical custody and he has every other weekend and one weeknight until 8pm. We share legal custody. The kids have always been in daycare with the exception of me being on maternity leave. Can he do this? What are my odds I can stop this from happening…especially with his unstable history? Thanks in advance Michael, your blog has answered a lot of questions for me already!
In my experience, in Pennsylvania there is custody court and there is support court, and never the twain shall meet. An argument like he would make — “Hey, child care expenses aren’t needed anymore, because Daddy’s home! — is generally met with rejection in support court, because the job of the court is to address the custody situation as it is, not as it should be. Whether the court in a custody modification claim would award him additional time is another question entirely, and one that I’m afraid I am not in a good position to address in a limited forum like this one… but you certainly seem to have much to work with, which helps.
Mr. Greenstein: My Significant other has been religiously paying a flat amount of $2,000 per month to his ex wife (never missed a payment) and additionally covers his 2 children under his benefits (around $500/month); It was not decided by the court, it was an agreement between them. My SO makes roughly $4,500 NET per month. His ex-wife doesn’t really work (never really had to, except a small home business). For the 1st time, since September 2013, the children are in school full time (So she doesn’t have the excuse of having to pay for daycare). My SO believes it’s time that she gets a job and per the PA estimator, he should be paying way less than $2,000 per month. All this years, he was afraid of her and taking the children away. He is no longer afraid and finally went to the court to file. Is the PA calculator accurate? Could the judge end up increasing the amount? I can’t possibly see how, but could he? Thank you for your advices.
I never had need to “reality check” the PA support calculator, but I would be surprised if it didn’t offer a result that was at least in the ballpark.
Can a court award support above the guideline? Yes, but not without reason. The Pennsylvania child support guidelines are presumed to be the correct amount of support for a given situation. If someone is going to ask for either an upward or downward deviation from that figure, there are some very specific factors that must be considered. There are also certain expenses (such as child-care costs and private school tuition) that can be awarded in addition to the guideline amount of support.
It is possible that a court will indeed impute income to her, but in a situation like yours — paranoid family lawyer that I am — I usually make sure to “run the numbers” both assuming that she is making at least full-time minimum-wage income, and assuming that she is making nothing at all. That way, you have an idea of what a worse-case scenario might look like (I never say “worst case,” because if I have learned anything in this business, it is that nothing is so bad that it cannot be worse!). If you do that, I think you will find that it is your SO’s income that will leverage the final number much more substantially than his ex’s.
If she decides to play games with the custody over this, that will not be addressed in support court; and I tend to recommend proactivity when it comes to somebody treating children as if they were attached to a yo-yo string.
Hey Mr. Greenstein,
my husband has 2 children with his ex wife and he used to pay her $1200 a month for child support, basically every week he would give her $300 for 2 kids. my husband net income is $1600 a month and it was just too much for us. They both have a personal agreement so he told her he would lower it to $600 a month. Now we are thinking on lowering down to $350 a month because he has 2 more kids by another relationship + my child who is a baby.
Is it okay to lower her child support because he also has 2 more child support to pay?
It’s too much money to pay just to her when he has 3 more kids to support plus our own expenses.
thanks.
Before you go “rocking the boat” in a way that might provoke her to go to court, it’s important to get a sense of what she might be able to get from him, if the matter litigates. Once upon a time I represented a lady with a five year-old daughter whose ex took her to court to have his child support lowered because he took a lower-paying job, and it turned out that he owed more each month with his lowered income than he had been paying before! I have devoted myself ever since to making sure that this never happens to anyone I represent, and the way I do it is by “reality-checking” the numbers before my client does something he can’t take back.
Having an obligation to support other children, by itself, doesn’t lower his support obligation under the child support guidelines. After all, nobody wants to rob “baby Peter” to pay “baby Paul.” Instead, a Pennsylvania child support court will apply the “multiple family rule,” that indicates that if his total child support obligation exceeds half his income, the court may apply a pro-rated discount.
Run the numbers. Nothing is sure, but being as close to sure as possible before he makes a move might save him plenty of aggravation and money.
My ex quit his job at a plant that was paying around $55000 a year and is now delivering pizza! He petitioned the courts to modify his child support because he is now earning less! What I don’t understand is how can he just quit a job that he has had since before my kids were born with good healthcare and retirement, and go to a job with nothing? I feel like he is doing this just to get the support lowered!
I forgot to mention he has a college degree as well!
Educational background certainly also comes into play, when a court is determining whether a support obligor should have an earning capacity imputed to him, in the absence or insufficiently of earned wages or other sources of income. It may depend on how recent his degree is, and how relevant it is to his work history over how long a time.
When someone who owes child support voluntarily reduces his income, it ordinarily has no effect on his support obligation. Were it otherwise, anyone could walk off the job and turn out empty pockets in the courtroom.
There are exceptions to every rule, of course, and much may depend on the reason he gives, and what he may have done to try to mitigate the damage. I get no sense of what excuse he might offer from your post, but my gut reaction is, it had better be good.
Focus on what you may have in the way of evidence to establish that this was a voluntary reduction in income, such as emails, text messages, etc. You will also be able to testify about anything he may have told you directly about his choice to switch jobs.
Can support be determined without knowing who the custodial parent and the NCP is? My wife has voluntarily moved out 2 weeks ago and is requesting support through domestic relations hearing. We have been alternating, daily, the sleeping arrangements of the three children since she left.
This is the kind of situation in which I especially recommend that clients keep a calendar of where the children have stayed overnight. There’s no need to have a court-ordered custody determination to be able to calculate child support; the actual arrangement is what matters, and it seems to me very clear (based on your description) that you are sharing custody equally.
For purposes of child support, who is a custodial parent and who is a “noncustodial” parent is based on the number of overnight stays with each parent. In a 50/50 situation like yours, where both of you are custodial parents, child support money will flow from the home with more income into the home with less income. The parent who must pay support will pay substantially less than a more traditional noncustodial parent, however, because the Pennsylvania child support guidelines are set up to recognize that in situations like yours, some of of what otherwise would be that parent’s child support obligation needs to stay in his own household.
Looking ahead, you may want to consider what kind of custody arrangement will best suit your children. If you are looking to keep a 50/50 arrangement there are various “models” that people use. Try to avoid a situation in which one parent makes custodial decisions for both without challenge.
If am the only one(father) with a income, and mom has nothing going for her and lives with own mother. My? If I make 1000 week plus and I have two kids, how much would pa ask me to pay, and if I started a business with employees can I get full custody of one or both children, do to mom lack of work?
I am going to sidestep your question about support, referring you instead to the article above (which will let you make those calculations for yourself).
Concerning your second question, I don’t see any reason why your operation of a business will, by itself, have any effect upon your child custody arrangement. If you want to learn more about what a Pennsylvania child custody court considers important when deciding on what custody arrangement will best serve minor children, take a look at the factors identified under Pennsylvania child custody law.
I was recently separated from the Air Force(dod saving money) and I have been paying, 515/mo for my 10 year old son now. My ex was military also, so 7years ago she decided to quit her job or leave the military and claim child support and be a stay at home mom. So after 7 years she still doesn’t work, and just had her 4th child. I don’t have a job yet, I did receive some severance and medical benefits for me and my son for being separated. I notified the DRS of my job loss, and I requested to modify the child support based on my post 9/11 gibill ( în school full time to become an aircraft mechanic) and air National guard drill pay. They still want me to pay the same amount, yet my ex is not told to find a job or support equally. She has been going to school all this time using her GI BILL and living off my child support and what her husband makes. I had a hearing last week, I don’t feel it went well for me, I don’t know what they’ll do because before I received my severance pay, I was living of my savings and only paid 200/mo so she can have something. The GOV shutdown slowed everything down for me from receiving my severance pay and starting my guard job. I paid back the amount due from the past just today. I appreciate your assistance and advice, thank you.
I wouldn’t count on your ex being given much earning capacity under the circumstances; it helps you that she is living with someone else (another income in the household), but hurts you that she is a stay-at-home mom. Even though it is someone else’s kids who are keeping her from working, in real-world terms it makes it much less likely that she will be expected by a court to work.
That is probably not as much of a problem as you might think. In Pennsylvania, child support is based disproportionately on your income as “obligor,” rather than her income as “obligee.” Run child support calculations with higher and lower incomes for her and the numbers will certainly budge, but nowhere near as much as if you run them with higher or lower incomes for you.
Your support award should be based on what you are making now. If you get the result of your support proceeding and consider it unfair, you may still have options, depending on where you are in the process… but also a deadline. There are two different types of support hearing procedures in Pennsylvania, and each county decides for itself which one to follow. Some (such as Washington County and Westmoreland County) sit you down for a relatively informal conference and if no agreement is reached, the conference officer issues a recommended decision that you can appeal by asking for a “de novo” hearing within 20 days. Others (such as Allegheny County) also hold a conference, and if no agreement is reached will hold a formal hearing before a hearing officer or a “master” that same day; appeals must also be filed within 20 days, and are handled by ordering the hearing transcript, writing a brief and arguing it before the judge.
As soon as you get your result, if you think you want to challenge it the smartest thing you can do is to schedule a meeting right away with a child support attorney in your county. If you miss a filing deadline to challenge it, you could be stuck. You could be stuck anyway, I fear, but one way or the other you are better off getting the information you need to make the most informed decision possible.
I have a question. I have two children (6 and 3) that I as an obliger I have a $1392/mo order for. This order was figured on 2 children, me earning 65k, ex earning 50k (one job m-fri she earns $31164 and a second job she works on sundays making $18900, I have custody of the kids sun-tue). She has had this second job for roughly 10 years. Also there is a daycare cost of $857 a month (that is included in the $1392 a month).
I just accepted a new job making $79k. Understandably so knowing i’d have to go back for a modification. My ex informed me that we would go back for a modification in the summer, AFTER she voluntarily quits her sunday job that she had for the past 10 years to make up for her lower than normal salary from her first job)
Do I have a chance to argue that her income should be imputed at what she has earned not only over half this year, but also for every year prior for the past 10 years.
If I understand you correctly, your support order is only for child support, and not for spousal support or temporary alimony (“alimony pendente lite”, or “APL”). You certainly have a chance to make the argument that she should be imputed the income from her “overtime” job, but it may come down to a question of why she is choosing to depart.
Here is the Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure that governs income calculations for support purposes. I direct your particular attention to subsection (d) of that rule (“Reduced or fluctuating income”). On one hand, voluntary reduction in earnings generally does not affect income for purposes of calculating support (sub-subsection 2) but on the other, the general rule is not to impute income beyond a single full-time position (sub-subsection 4). In practice, what is behind the decision may make all the difference… but I’m not sure I would bet too heavily on the hoped-for extra imputation of income if her reasons for quitting are plausibly reasonable and can be made to appear sufficiently beneficial your children.
That doesn’t mean give-up-and-die by any means, but it does mean that the analysis needs to go one further step. The question behind all of this seems to be whether the game is worth the prize. Your income, as the “obligor,” exercises much more leverage in the guideline formula than does hers. My suggestion is that before you commit to a fight, know the value of what you might be fighting for. Run the PA child support obligation formula once using your current net monthly income and hers from both jobs, and then again using your income and hers from only the single job that will remain. The difference between the two numbers is the stake for which you are fighting. Knowing that will help you decide how hard you want to push, and whether attempting to meet somewhere in the middle is a sensible option.
I have a unique situation. My fiance and I may not end up getting married and split up. After our daughter was born we decided that I would not work and become a stay at home mom. I have no income at this point so how is this calculated? He makes around $100,000 a year and currently a PA resident or address but he works through Massachusetts. I am not sure what my first step is?
I assume for purposes of answering that your daughter spends most of her overnights with you. Odds are, your first step is the same as for anyone who is not getting support for a child: file a claim for it with the family court. Any support you are entitled to will only be retroactive to the date you actually ask for it, meaning that each day that goes by without filing is another day’s entitlement you lose claim to. If he is providing support by paying you directly already that might not be a problem, except that it might be a good idea to “reality check” the amount he is giving you so that you can see how support figure compares to the PA child support guidelines.
If your ex lives in PA, it doesn’t matter where his employer is based; your case will be handled here.
Based on the little I know about your circumstances there is no way I can predict whether you will have an earning capacity imputed to you, and much may depend on facts about your situation that go beyond what a brief question-and-answer on a public forum like this one can address. It may not matter too much, given your fiancee’s income level; overall, the result of applying the support guideline formula is affected disproportionately by his income as the “obligor,” over your income as the “obligee,” and the higher his income gets the less your income will influence the final support number.
It would be a good idea for you to consult with a family lawyer in your area to get advice that is more personal and specific to your situation, rather than the generalized and non-partisan advice I can offer on this public forum.
Hi do they take into account not only the income but also the expenses one has when determining the final support order?
Most often, child support in Pennsylvania is based on income (or earning capacity) only. Once the support court feeds the net monthly incomes for both parents through the PA support guidelines formula, it will presume the result to be the correct amount of basic child support for your case.
Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-5 shows what a court will consider when a parent makes an argument that child support should deviate up or down from the amount calculated under the PA guidelines. When you look it over, you will see that “unusual needs and unusual fixed obligations” are one of the factors. You can try to use your expenses to get the court to put you below “guideline” support, but bear in mind that everyday expenses like maintaining a home and a vehicle are almost certainly not going to be enough to do the job. Ordinary living expenses are (at least, in theory) already taken into account in the guideline formula, and you can expect the family court to treat child support as a priority obligation. Absent something both out-of-the-ordinarily and beyond your control, a Pennsylvania support court will often decide that if any belt-tightening has to happen, it’s better for it be a parent’s belt rather than a child’s.
My spouse left 6 months ago and is paying the bills of the marital home where I live with my 2 children, but he isnt giving me much money for food. I am 47, have never worked, have an autoimmune disease and my son has autism. Does my husband have to provide money for food if our bills are about what he owes me for child support and spousal support already? If I file for support will I be assigned an earning capacity and will this cut my child support and spousal support?
I would need to know a fair amount more about your situation to give you a meaningful answer to your questions, particularly given that I do not know whether you are already receiving disability income for yourself or for your son, and/or receiving welfare benefits. When clients are considering filing for child support and spousal support, I like to calculate support according to the Pennsylvania support guidelines to come up with both best-case and worst-case scenarios, so that clients can make informed decisions before they make a move.
The guideline amount of support based on both parties’ incomes or earning capacities is presumed to be correct, but a support plaintiff can sometimes get an upward deviation for (among other things) “unusual needs and unusual fixed obligations” under the Pennsylvania court rules for support.
I cannot say whether you will be given an earning capacity. If you are, it will certainly cut into your entitlement.
Hi,
Can you tell me if our property settlement agreement specifically says that alimony can not be used to determine child support or earning capacity, can it still be considered income? I have primary custody of our 13 year old daughter and have been a stay at home mom for 18 years (we both agreed to that arrangement since my ex is self-employed and travels often). I am now 48 and will be trying to find a job. Also, if my ex pays for our 19 year old to go to college do they take that into consideration to lower the child support for my younger daughter. When my 19 year old is home from college she lives with me also and I pay her expenses. My ex is paying me $4,166.00 a month alimony for 2 years to just be done with it. Do the courts look at your savings acct (which as of now is where I have a lump sum because he kept the house). I am currently renting a town home for $2000.00 a month so my daughter could stay in the same school. (PA Divorce)
Thank you for any information you might be able to give.
When it comes to support for a child, agreements are always subject to change. Were it otherwise, you would be effectively losing your daughter’s rights; and you can no more do that than you can lose my rights, or your neighbor’s rights. That truth makes me skeptical that alimony can be kept out of consideration, no matter what the agreement says. There might be other “wrinkles” to your situation that would make me reconsider, but I would need to go over the specifics of your agreement and the support history of your case to get a better sense of what we would have to work with.
Your daughter’s father will have a challenge trying to lower support for your daughter because he is contributing to your elder child’s college expenses; not just because you are, as well, but because in Pennsylvania, child support is considered to be a priority obligation.
To the extent that your savings generates interest or dividend income it is certainly relevant to your income, but unless there is an additional factor to your situation that you do not describe, I doubt that it can be touched for purposes of establishing your income for support purposes. Here is the rule of court that describes what represents “income” for purposes of Pennsylvania support calculation.
Mr. Greenstein: Thank you for a truly informative resource in your website. My question pertains to support calculation in the following situation: Father and Mother share ‘custody’ of four children. Father is only the biological father of three of the children. He has not formally adopted the fourth child but treats that child as his own. Would his support obligations be based upon three children or four? (Does he have any legal obligation to the fourth child just by sharing physical custody?) What effect might a support claim against Father have on the fourth child’s biological father? (Will the Court insist that a claim be filed against him as well?) Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide.
The answer to your question is very fact-dependent, so I’m afraid I can’t offer a definitive and specific answer to you beyond recommending that you explore the matter with a support lawyer.
That said, much may depend (among other factors) on the parental role (or lack thereof) that both the biological father and the father of the other three children each have played in the fourth child’s life. It is possible for a man who is not a child’s biological father to be legally the child’s father, and usually that relationship is created between unmarried parents when the biological father is absent without ever having acknowledged paternity, and another man who is aware that the child is not (or might not be) his accepts and treats the child as his own and declares himself to be the child’s father. The idea is that a child has only one father, and that it is tremendously unfair to the child if the man who stepped forward to proclaim himself his or her father should be permitted to wash his hands of parenthood, leaving the child potentially without a father (and the source of support he represents).
A man can (and often does) love and voluntarily support another man’s child, however, without being “on the hook” for child support in Pennsylvania. The particular facts really do make all the difference.
I suspected the answer was not an easy one. Your response is much appreciated. If I may, I have one other question for which my research is providing unclear answers: is an informal custody arrangement (just something drafted, signed, notarized by the parents) at all binding in Pennsylvania? Is there any benefit to or significant reasons for parents to avoid drafting something like this? Thank you again for your time.
An informal custody agreement in Pennsylvania may be best described as “useful, probably enforceable at least on an interim basis, and subject to change.” I’ll expand on each of those:
USEFUL. Getting everybody “on the same page” is often a good idea, especially if there is going to be a definite, easy-to-follow custody schedule set up. Putting mutual co-parenting commitments in writing can bring predictability to a situation and allow the co-parents to maintain (or rebuild) basic trust.
PROBABLY ENFORCEABLE. Assuming that no court case has yet been filed, you can’t expect to hand a copy of the agreement to a police officer and expect the officer to do anything other than to recommend that you take it to a family court judge. If your co-parent signed the agreement and now is not playing by the rules, your best course is to file your custody case and then go to Motions Court to ask the judge to issue an order that requires both parents to follow the agreement at least until the matter is more fully explored as the case moves forward. Since the agreement stands as the agreement of both parents about what is best for their child(ren) at the time it was signed, odds are good that if it is clearly written it will carry weight, provided that both parents were still following it up to the time the problem happened that led you to court, and that there isn’t too much delay bringing the problem to the judge.
SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Hardly anything involving children is “set in stone.” A Pennsylvania child custody court always retains jurisdiction to modify custody agreements and orders, if doing so best serves the best interest of the children.
The bottom line is: if you think you need one, it is not a bad idea to draft one. It can protect each of the parents as well as the children, and help to avoid unnecessary fights.
Thank you again. You have been immensely helpful. If the situation escalates, I will certainly suggest your firm.
Hi,
Can you tell me if there is any regulations or guidelines on when payments for daycare would end .My daughter just turned 15 and her mother is still sending bills for daycare that is being provided by a family member.My order has nothing specific in it about the daycare
The Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure that applies to your question says: “Reasonable child care expenses paid by either parent, if necessary to maintain employment or appropriate education in pursuit of income, shall be allocated between the parties in proportion to their net incomes and added to his and her basic support obligation.”
If your order does not mention daycare, odds are that you are under no technical obligation to pay it at this time, and therefore (assuming that you have read the order correctly and that there are no other orders to the same effect) you are unlikely to be in trouble with the court for failing to pay. It certainly raises an eyebrow that a fifteen year-old young lady would need “daycare,” but without knowing much, much more about your situation I am in no position to evaluate how necessary such care might be.
Be cautions, because simple answers that are also complete answers are rare in Pennsylvania family law, so that may not be the end of the analysis. Any action on your part that stands a fair chance of landing you in court to defend against a claim of support modification is best evaluated in full before you start something you might not be able to stop. You would be well-advised to spend an hour or so with a Pennsylvania child support lawyer to have your whole situation reviewed, before you take a “game-changing” action. “Look before you leap” is usually good advice, when it comes to family court.
I have a 3 year old daughter with my ex boyfriend(whom i have a great co parenting relationship with). I never took him to court for child support because he is a great father and has always taken care of her physically and financially.Recently he found out that he fathered a six month old son and the son’s mother has taken him to court for child support. He nets about 1530.00 monthly and the judge awarded the other woman $477.00 a month for her son with him, almost 1/3 of his income without taking into account of his other child. This will greatly affect the help financially that i have been getting for our daughter. My ex says says the judge did not ask or consider the expenses that he contributes to his first child (our daughter)which was approximately 500-600 a month. So I guess my question is how will this affect my child and the help i was getting from him with her monthly expenses? can he or I petition for a lowered amount given that he has obligations to take care of his first child too?
It is seldom the judge’s job to inquire into a litigant’s personal situation; the job of the court is not to investigate, but to adjudicate. It is your co-parent’s responsibility to make sure that the judge knows everything he or she needs to know to be able to make a fair decision.
I refer your attention to what is usually referred to as the Multiple Family Rule. Since courts want to ensure consistent treatment of children who are similarly situated, ordinarily the existence of other children to whom the paying parent owes a duty of child support will not allow a discount. That changes in one of two circumstances: either because his total basic guideline support obligations (including his guideline support obligation toward your son) exceeds half his income or because it leaves his income below the Self-Support Reserve, which is now $931 per month. In either instance, the court has the power to grant a proportional discount intended to bring your co-parent’s support obligation more in line with his actual ability to pay.
You, yourself, have no power to petition for a modification in your co-parent’s support obligation. Your co-parent must do this. I have no idea whether the recent decision was handed down by a judge or instead by a hearing officer or conference officer; in the latter case, if less than 20 days have passed from the date of the court proceeding, he might have the right to request a “de novo” hearing and get a fresh start to make his claim.
Either way, he would probably be well-served to pay for an hour of a Pennsylvania child support lawyer’s time; if he is still within 20 days of the court determination he wants to challenge, sooner is definitely better than later! In that instance, the first thing he will need to know is whether he even qualifies for the discount under the rule I reference above. If he doesn’t, that’s pretty much the end of the analysis. If he does, what he does next, and how soon, might very well become important.
if me and the mother of our 1 child already have a verbal agreement in the amount and frequency I pay support can she still take me to court for more support? she keeps threating me that she could get $700 to $800 Through them is this also true even if I have been paying on time the amount she wanted from the start
(NOTE : I pay $100 per week for our son and have been now for 4 years)
Agreements for child support in Pennsylvania are never “set in stone.” Yes, she can take you to court, but the good news is that (based on the situation as you have described it) any support she gets from you through the court will only date back to the time she actually files the papers.
It is never a bad idea to get a sense of what you might have to pay her if she carries out her threat. If she wants more money than you are presently paying, knowing the size of the barrel she has you over can help you make informed decisions and perhaps even make virtue of necessity to offer her a better deal that still might not be as bad as what might happen if you have to litigate.
Can they use overtime as your income even though you may not get it all the time?
I’m afraid so. “Income,” for purposes of the Pennsylvania child support guidelines, is pretty much anything that involves money going into your pocket. Here is the list, from the Pennsylvania rules of court.
Because overtime often fluctuates, a Pennsylvania support court will calculate an average income based on at least six months of time, in an effort to be as fair and realistic as possible. In the case of people whose income tends to fluctuate seasonally (for example, construction workers), courts will often want to use a full year’s wages to eliminate concerns arising from where the hearing might happen to catch them in terms of their annual income cycle.
I heard that the support guideline for PA have changed recently. If my ex-spouse gets remarried, do the courts now take into account household income as well when determining support re-calculations? (as opposed to just one income as before)
There were some changes to the Pennsylvania child support guidelines in 2013 to reflect updated economic data, but before asking for a modification of your support obligation based on a change to the guidelines it is always a good idea to run the calculations yourself (or better still, with the help of a PA child support lawyer) using your current income, to make sure that you minimize the risk of asking for a reduction only to walk out of the courtroom owing more than when you walked in. This happens!
No, your ex-spouse’s new spouse acquires no legal obligation to support your children. A second income in his or her household can be your defense if your former spouse tries to claim an “upward deviation” due to hardship, but that’s about as far as it goes. I’m sorry not to be able to offer better news.
Hi my new husband has 50/50 custody of his three kids! His ex just recieved a disability settlement and recieves payments for herself and 4 children. The support order went into affect before she began recieving these payments. Will these payments be counted as income? Should he take her to court and try to get a decrease? He pays way more than his share. He pays her support and supports the children half the time. She also just recently tried to claim all three children on her income tax. when they were rotating 1 child on taxes. she has always claimed atleast two and he always claims one child. Also his oldest son is turning 18 next month. Will his support amount change or will they recalculate and keep paying the same amount for just two children?
Social Security derivative benefits for children indeed have an effect on the Pennsylvania Child Support Guideline calculation. Pennsylvania uses an “income shares” model, and that portion of the benefit intended for the children is treated as an additional household income for purposes of running the guideline formula, before being backed out again at a different point in the calculation. Whether he should go back to court over it is highly fact-dependent, and there is no “one size fits all” answer. Before he takes any action, it is probably a good idea to sit down with a PA child support lawyer and run the numbers. I have seen multiple examples of a parent who pays child support asking for a modification because of changed circumstances, but because of an “X-factor” in the situation he or she leaves the courthouse paying more than on the way in! I have done my best to make sure this does not happen to anyone I represent, and so my approach in situations like this is very much “look before you leap.”
If one of the children is emancipating, it will certainly have an effect on his support obligation. How much of an effect, though, is impossible to say without the kind of child support calculations I recommend above. Bear in mind that if his oldest son is still in High School, he will still be eligible for support until his graduation day. For purposes of child support in Pennsylvania, “emancipation” generally means that a child is BOTH eighteen years of age, and out of High School.
Also one last question ! Would she have to report her disability settlement which totaled approx. $20,000 for the several years she claimed to be disabled from migraine headaches? At the time my husband was paying alot of money in support because his ex had no income due to her so-called disability. Thank You for any reply
Yes, she is supposed to report it, since disability payments count as “income” for purposes of a Pennsylvania child support award. Whether the lump-sum disability payment is treated as retroactive income (which it actually is) or prospective income (probably to be amortized over the same period moving forward) remains to be seen, and may heavily depend on how the present child support order has been written. First and foremost, as part of the calculations I recommended earlier I would want to run the numbers both ways, to see what kind of a difference it might make. Child support in Pennsylvania is much more heavily dependent on the paying parent’s income, over the receiving parent’s income.
I legally adopted my ex-wife’s son when we got married. She claimed she was not aware of the father’s identity so the court allowed the adoption without needing to end the biological father’s right (there was no father listed on the birth certificate). We have since divorced and I am paying support for him and the daughter we had together. Recently, my ex-wife decided to introduce my son to his biological father. She apparently knew who the father was the entire time but lied in court because he wouldn’t agree to drop his parental rights. I have since found proof that she knew when she was pregnant and before we met. I’ve raised my adopted son as my own since he was a toddler and while he considers me his “dad” I feel like I may be getting pushed out of the way. The biological father hasn’t made any moves to push his legal rights but has been visiting and communicating. Is this something I should pursue in court or will I still be obligated to continue paying support for him since I adopted him (even though it was under false pretenses)? Thank you for this helpful forum and I appreciate any opinion you can provide.
It is very obvious that there is much more to this situation than could ever possibly fit into a paragraph, and so my response must be equally general.
You adopted your son. As matters presently stand, and as far as Pennsylvania adoption law is concerned, he is your son and nobody else’s, so first and foremost: yes, you will need to continue supporting him. Given the fact of your successful adoption effort, your son’s biological father is, legally-speaking, no more a parent to your son than I am.
It is possible that “bio-dad” could choose to challenge the adoption based upon a lack of proper notice, but (knowing as little as I do about your situation) I am in no position even to begin to be able to evaluate whether he has the chance to succeed. Pending any such formal challenge, however, your son has one, and only one, father, and that is very much you.
Your misgivings over your former wife’s unilateral choice to bring this stranger into your son’s life are entirely understandable. Whether her choice rises to a level of problem that justifies involving a family court judge in connection with a child custody claim is something you may wish to discuss with a PA child custody attorney sooner rather than later; where custody issues are concerned, I generally recommend being proactive (and sometimes, aggressively proactive) on the theory that when problems like this arise, time is seldom your friend.
Ultimately, you have a parental decision to make for the benefit of your son because, no matter how you view the situation, you are indeed a parent to your son.
How much will my Child Support Be lowered When my Daughter arrives because i am paying 110 a week in support.
If I am reading your question correctly, you are asking me whether the birth of a child to your second family will have an effect on your PA support guidelines obligation to a child of your prior family.
Whether your current payment will go down depends heavily on the total of your Pennsylvania child support guideline obligations to all of your children. Ordinarily, no court wants to rob baby Peter to pay baby Paul, so it is likely that the only reduction you can claim based on the upcoming birth of your child is if the total of your obligations exceeds half your net monthly income, or if it leaves you with less than what is called the “self-support reserve” (at the time of this writing, $931/month). In the event that either of those two conditions apply, you might be able to claim a proportionate reduction in your existing child support obligation so that either (a) you get to keep half of your income, or (b) you get to keep your self-support reserve.
I have three children with my husband. We have been separated for 6 months now. He has made 6 figures for 10 years now, but just quit his job after we separated and is living with his millionaire parents. They are completely supporting him. Meanwhile, my three children and I have had to go on welfare. I just filed for support yesterday. I’m scared. I’ve been a stay at home mom for 14 years and now he’s cut us off. How will they calculate a support amount if he isn’t currently working? What should I do? I have nothing. My family has no means and I feel like I’m up against his army. I am an amazing mother and even he acknowledges that. I am in PA, He is in Northern VA.. Any advice at all would be so appreciated. Thank you so much,
Much may depend on whether you have filed a Pennsylvania child support case, or whether you filed for support against him through the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). The former is a Pennsylvania child support (and possibly also spousal support) case, and the latter is a way of filing against him for child support in Virginia from Pennsylvania. For purposes of my response I am assuming that you have filed a Pennsylvania support case, as every state has its own domestic relations code and I have no license to practice in Virginia.
Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-2(d)(1) says, “Voluntary Reduction of Income. 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.” You should arrive at the support conference prepared (to the extent that this is possible) to offer proof of his former income, ideally in the form of documentation (e.g., income tax records or pay stubs) but failing that, by your own testimony. Just as the rule implies, the court has the power to impute your husband an earning capacity equivalent to his former earnings, and to calculate his support obligation accordingly.
If there is sufficient time in advance of your proceeding, as a party litigant you have the power to require him to produce certain documents at the support conference by means of serving him with a Notice to Attend, the original of which (along with a certificate of service) must be filed with the Prothonotary. This is a variation on the concept of a subpoena, which is intended to be served upon a party litigant from whom documents are required, in order for you to be able to present your case properly. I imagine that you will want to demand his final pay stubs from his former employment, the most recent version of his resume, and similar materials to allow you to establish both the income from his former employment, and the voluntary nature of his departure from it. Should he fail to bring what you require of him, the conference officer and/or hearing officer (depending on your county’s procedure) will have to decide how to address the matter, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to leave no stone unturned! In my own Pittsburgh child support law practice, I prepare to go after a mosquito with a nuclear missile if I can manage it.
My girlfriend and I held separate homes and expenses during our relationship. When she discovered she was pregnant she tried to get me to sign off on adoption. I refused and as a result we broke up. I begged her to let me have the child and she refused saying that she would want to see him if she gave him to me, with which I have no problem. However she has since given birth and did not even notify me of the birth. I have been trying to see the child with no response from her. I can not set up voluntary child support and she has not named me as the child’s father. If she goes after me for child support will that give me visitation rights? How will the child support be determined based us never living together?
First and foremost, even if your former girlfriend chooses not to name you as the father, you can initiate a paternity claim to mandate genetic testing and determine the matter for certain, assuming that you are not already certain.
I usually recommend establishing paternity before you begin supporting the child voluntarily, simply because there are certain circumstances under which a man who is not married to the child’s mother can find himself “on the hook” to support a child even if that child turns out not to be his own. Most often genetic testing is conducted in the context of a child support action filed by the mother, but if your former girlfriend is not moving in that direction, in Pennsylvania you, yourself have the power to force the issue and have your paternity status determined by the court.
Once it is confirmed that you are the child’s father, you can then initiate a child custody action and claim your rights toward the child. If that is your goal, I tend to recommend proactivity. You would be well-advised to sit down with a child custody lawyer and discuss the situation and your goals, so that you don’t lose time that may result in your having weaker leverage for favorable short-term results.
In Pennsylvania, her going after you for child support will NOT give you a share of custody. The family court system in Pennsylvania is very thoroughly compartmentalized, and after more than twenty years of Pittsburgh family law practice I have yet to be in a courtroom in which both child support and child custody are addressed at the same time. If you are looking for a seat at the feast rather than crumbs from the table when it comes to raising your child, YOU must take timely, correct action to create the situation in which you can achieve your goal. People sometimes refer to “the wheels of justice,” but they don’t generally mention that there’s a little crank sticking out of the machine; if you don’t turn the crank, nothing happens.
I think you will find that the quality of a parent will be determined by a Pennsylvania family court judge based less upon barriers that may have been placed in his path to parenthood, and more upon the degree to which he labors to overcome them. I urge parents in general, and fathers in particular, to abandon thinking in terms of “visiting” their children. This isn’t a trip to the zoo! This is about RAISING your child, and in general there is no reason why any parent inherently needs to accept a “backseat” role in the upbringing of his or her child. Assuming that you are indeed this child’s father, it comes down to a parental decision on your part that nobody other than you can be qualified to make.
Thank you for your response, My ultimate goal is to have my child in my custody on a full time basis. I have been led to believe that is not going to happen in the courts as they tend to side with the mother in these cases. What do you think the percentage of cases where a good loving stable father can win full custody?
Let me offer you encouraging news: family court judges do NOT tend to side with the mother anymore, in my experience. Since January 2011, child custody law in Pennsylvania has mandated that the gender of a parent is expressly excluded as a consideration when a family court is called upon to make decisions in the best interest of a child. Co-parenting is very much the standard. This change in Pennsylvania child custody law was the final stake in the heart of the once-upon-a-time “tender years doctrine,” which created a presumption that a child of “tender years” was best off in the primary care of his or her mother. No longer.
Instead, when addressing parental disputes about child custody, a Pennsylvania judge is required to view the situation in light of a series of custody factors, and make his or her decision accordingly. The child custody court still gets a broad discretion, of course, but in my experience judges take these factors very seriously. I direct your particular attention to the very first of these: “Which party is more likely to encourage and permit frequent and continuing contact between the child and another party.” Co-parenting is very much a priority in Pennsylvania custody disputes, and I have seen cases won and lost on that basis.
That said, the likelihood of any parent gaining “full” custody of a child is vanishingly low, for exactly the same reasons I have identified above. 50/50 situations, however, are becoming increasingly more common. If you believe that you are dealing with circumstances so extreme that a court will support your claim that the best medicine for the situation is to edge your child’s mother out entirely, you can expect an uphill battle at the very least.
I urge you to sit down with an experienced Pennsylvania child custody attorney sooner rather than later, to review your rights, options, risks and foreseeable consequences in the context of your contemplated custody claim. Also, as I said before, being proactive is probably your best bet; in some situations (possibly including yours, although I am in no position to be able to say), the riskiest choice is to do nothing at all.
This is such a great site! Thank you so much for your time.
I have a question re: what I think is an error in my child support calculation. My ex and I share custody 50/50 (week on/week off) of my son and I have primary custody of my daughter (8/6). My gross income is about 7300/mo and my ex is about 6700/mo. In reviewing the PA code, it seems that the two children should be calculated separately. I would be the obligor in my son’s case, as I make more money per month and the split is even–that I understand. However, shouldn’t I be the obligee when it comes to my daughter as I have more overnights than my ex? And the amount that I owe for my son would be subtracted from what my ex’s obligation for my daughter? As it is, I am still paying close to $500/mo. The caseworker basically put the two kids together and gave me “credit” for my overnight with my daughter. She never assigned any amount owed by my ex, only by myself as I make more money. But if I have primary custody, shouldn’t my ex be the obligor in that scenario?
Thanks so much for the assistance!
What an interesting scenario! That’s not necessarily good news, any more than when a doctor tells you that you have an interesting problem, of course.
Based only on what you are telling me, it looks like your caseworker applied the wrong standard. Allow me to direct your attention to Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1910.16-4(d)(2): “Varied Custodial Schedules. When the parties have more than one child and each child spends different amounts of partial or shared custodial time with the obligor, the trier of fact shall add the percentage of time each child spends with the obligor and divide by the number of children to determine the obligor’s percentage of custodial time. If the average percentage of time the children spend with the obligor is 40% or more, the provisions of subdivision (c) above apply.” Given the scenario you describe — you have primary physical custody of your daughter, and equally-shared physical custody of your son — you are properly identified as the obligee as to BOTH children, and your co-parent is likewise properly identified as the obligor.
Every two weeks, you have 8 overnights with your daughter and seven with your son. Applying the rule I quote above, that leaves you with an average of 7.5 overnights out of every 14, or approximately 54% of physical custody (compared with her 46%) for purposes of applying the rule. That puts her in discount territory, but my reading of your scenario in conjunction with the above rule makes your role as obligee, and hers as obligor, unambiguously clear. As a side note, if you change the scenario such that your son spends more overnights with your ex than with you, the provisions of the prior subsection of Rule 1910.16-4 would apply (“Divided or Split Physical Custody. When Each Party Has Primary Custody of One or More of the Children.”), as you have supposed above.
I hope that you are still within the twenty-day period during which you can request a de novo hearing, because allowing that period to expire will foreclose your opportunity to challenge the caseworker’s determination unless and until either you encounter changed circumstances, or a full three years pass from the date upon which the order becomes final.
I hope you find this helpful. Thank you for your kind words about my site!
Wow! That was amazingly fast. Again, much appreciation for your time.
I am sorry, I’m just a little bit confused. Please forgive me as these rules make my head spin a little bit, but that’s why it’s so nice to have someone 1help explain. You said, “you are properly identified as the obligee as to BOTH children, and your co-parent is likewise properly identified as the obligor.” But later, “my reading of your scenario in conjunction with the above rule makes your role as obligor, and hers as obligee, unambiguously clear.” As of right now, I am the obligor paying ~$500/mo to my ex despite having 54% to her 46% of custody. Is this because I make more money? Would filing for a review make any kind of substantial difference?
Many, many thanks again!!
First and foremost: part of your confusion is the result of a typographical error on my part, which I have now corrected. I meant to say, your role as the OBLIGEE, and hers as OBLIGOR, are unambiguously clear, not the other way around. My apologies!
Based on your scenario, and assuming that it was in effect at your child support conference, it is conceivable that you are paying support not because you make more money than your co-parent, but rather because the conference officer was unaware of the rule I cited. Yours is not a common circumstance, and I have found that Domestic Relations Officers in general are not so much trained in the law, as they are trained in procedure and in the use of the PACSES software (PACSES stands for Pennsylvania Automated Child Support Enforcement System or Punish a Child Supporter Expecting Service, depending on your experience). Expecting unusual circumstances to receive unusual treatment usually leads to disappointment. Obviously, I have not had the opportunity to look at the paperwork, and if you signed your own consent to the arrangement you have locked it down pending a change in circumstances.
Fortunately, in the face of an adverse decision by a Domestic Relations Officer (i.e., without your consent), the system is set up to allow you to challenge the findings within twenty days by way of a “de novo” hearing before a hearing officer or a judge, at which time it should be as if the conference and its adverse decision never occurred. Not every Pennsylvania county uses this particular procedure, but it appears from your description that yours does. It puts you in front of someone who is actually trained in law, and gives you another opportunity to point out the cited rule.
Would filing for a review make a substantial difference? I cannot give you a definitive response to your question simply because I have no definitive knowledge of the procedural history and no access to the relevant documents, but I can tell you that your relative incomes have absolutely nothing to do with the matter. If you are the one entitled to child support — and as I said, I think you can make a strong case for it — the question is more one of the degree of your entitlement, rather than of the existence of your entitlement.
I simply cannot thank you enough, Mr. Greenstein. This makes so much more sense to me. Our original support order was put into effect last year when my ex did have the kids more than I do. After a custody eval, things shifted in my favor, effective February 2015. It seems that when we went for a modification last week, the caseworker rather than “flip” the scheme to correctly input me as the CP, she left me assigned as NCP due to my higher salary, then gave me a “credit” for my time with my children, when it is my ex that should be NCP with credit for HER time. I will sign, seal, and deliver any statement that absolves my ex of any payments to me but it just doesn’t sit right that I am still paying support as a custodial parent.
Luckily, I am well within the 20 day window. I have already contacted Domestic Relations this morning, and per the officer I spoke with, I will be going back in for another calculation at DR (I will bring my attorney). If the supervisor does not use the proper rule, I will ask for a hearing before a judge.
Without your input, I would continue paying this amount incorrectly for who knows how long. I cannot thank you enough! I will make sure to note your site to others in the future!!
My husband currently pays support for a child he had with his ex-girlfriend. She does not make much money and works a part-time job. Him and I have been married for 2 years now and I make significantly more money then him. We are expecting our first child soon. Will us having a child have any affect on his current child support payments?
First and foremost, let me be clear: YOU have no legal obligation to support his child, and so your income doesn’t come directly into play. It might come indirectly into play in the sense that with an additional income in his household, the guideline level of child support (that is, according to the Pennsylvania child support guideline) is less burdensome upon him than it might otherwise be.
If, when your child is born, his total child support obligation for all his children (including yours) exceeds half his net monthly income (assuming that he is working full-time) or leaves him with less than the “self-support reserve” (currently, $931 net per month), he might be entitled to a proportionate discount.
Unless either of those conditions are met, he is probably out of luck. The PA support guidelines are set up in an effort to ensure similar treatment for similarly-situated children, and so you will probably find that nobody wants to rob Baby Peter to be able to pay Baby Paul.
Here for your review is a link to what is often called the “multiple family rule,” which sets the standard for situations like yours in Pennsylvania.
Thank you so much for your help Mr. Greenstein!
Glad to be able to offer you something useful!