Child Support Day

How is child support determined? States take a variety of approaches to determining how much one parent owes the other for their children. Missouri, for example, uses Form 14 to plug in the relevant numbers to compute a final amount. This formula is the presumed amount owed, though the parents may agree to a different number or there may be special circumstances where a deviation from the presumed amount is appropriate. The paying parent often thinks he or she is getting the bad end of the deal, but the formula is set to approximate how much the non-custodial parent would be contributing to the child if the family was intact. This covers not only obvious costs like food and clothes, but includes things like housing, gas, insurance and utilities. Parents should know there are a thousand little costs that go into providing for a child.

Other states use other methods. Some states base it on a percent of the paying parent’s income. Some states consider children that are not joint children of the parties in their determination. Some states consider extraordinary expenses like if a child was a competitive gymnast prior to the break-up the judge will try to keep the child’s life as stable as possible with outside activities and may award extra support to compensate. In each case the judge has a lot of latitude to consider’s the family’s unique circumstances.

Does the non-custodial parent pay insurance in addition to support payments? Usually yes. Insurance coverage is important to both judges and the child support enforcement agency so they will order one parent or the other to provide coverage. Often the support is factored into the ultimate support amount, but sometimes orders are set up so that insurance and health costs are in addition.
The theory is that health takes precedent and a parent should spend whatever it costs for a child’s health.

If child support enforcement calculates the support amount, it will usually require the non-custodial parent to provide any insurance available through his employer and then split and uncovered costs. If there is no employer coverage the child may be eligible for medicaid.

How often can I modify my court order? You can modify it for free through the state every 3 years. This varies by state so check with yours. The agency gather the data at one parent’s request and does a new calculation. Or you can pay to go to court as often as you would like. Courts will not modify the order for a small change, but for anything around 20% or more you will get a judge’s ear so that if there is a substantial income or circumstances change of either party they do not have to wait the full 3 years.

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In addition to wage withholding, what tools can I use to collect money owed me? While wage withholding or wage garnishment is the most common method, you can use a wide variety of tools. If they have it or will pay to keep it, you can attach it in some way. I once knew a lawyer who seized a guy’s dog and he coughed up the money. This is not a normal approach though. Normally, your private collector would look for things like bank accounts, brokerage accounts, real estate, and vehicles to seize.

How long can I collect back money owed for my child? Whichever comes last between your child turning 18 or graduating from high school. But if your child goes into the service, gets hitched, dies or is legally emancipated from you, support ends immediately. Also, if your child has a long term disability where they get money from your states, support may continue or end depending on the state.

Can I still collect for a college attending child? Many parents make their own arrangements to pay for a child’s college expenses since that is normally a huge bill. With the soaring costs of college and parents overwhelming debt many kids are left alone to figure out how they will pay for their own college. However, if the non-custodial parent will not otherwise contribute many state laws requires them to at least continue to pay until the child graduates or turns 22, whichever occurs first. No state continues payment to a child who is getting an advanced degree.

When is it too late to collect my past due money? Most states are very generous in allowing you to collect your arrearages.You can often collect past due payments until 10 years after they were last due. So if support ends on a childs 18th birthday, you can collect delinquent amounts until the child turns 28. In addition, if the deadbeat parent pays, you can collect for 10 years after the last payment. So if you receive your only payment when your child is 25, because your child support collector found a hidden bank account, then you have an additional 10 years after that time to collect. Please check your states specific law because once that deadline passes it is forever too late to collect.