When parents seek a divorce, they have to decide how they are going to take care of their children. This generally involves determining who will have custody and what kind of financial contribution each parent is going to make to the expenses of child-rearing.
The Connecticut Child Support Enforcement Program is available to assist divorcing parents in figuring out the details of each parent’s financial role in their children’s lives.
Child support is the continuing payment by the parent who does not have custody to the parent who has custody to help with the costs of child-rearing after a divorce. The issue of child support often comes up during the process of dissolution of a marriage through divorce, when one of the parents may request child custody and child support.
Not all requests for child support take place during a divorce. The only requirements for requesting child support payments are establishing the paternity of the biological father and maternity of the biological mother. In other words, child support can be requested by a parent who has custody but was never formally married to the other parent of their child.
Who Needs to Pay Child Support?
In Connecticut, as in other states, both parents have an obligation to support their child financially, even if they are no longer living together. Courts in Connecticut consider a number of issues in deciding a parent’s eligibility to receive child support.
As a general rule, the parent who has custody of the child is the one who can expect to receive child support, because they are the parent who provides direct care to the child. So, the custodial parent is the one who pays the expenses for housing, food, clothing, medical care and the like.
How Can I Petition for Child Support?
The parents of a child can always make their own arrangements for child support out of court through a mutual support agreement. Or the issue can be decided in Connecticut family court in a child support order issued by a judge.
In order to get an award of child support, a person needs to request it from a family court. This can be done by petitioning the court for a child support order. As noted above, this is often done in connection with seeking dissolution of the marriage of the parents of the children.
In the course of the dissolution, the court determines the question of custody and then establishes the amount of money that one parent should pay to the other for child support. The court may also decide which parent is responsible for providing health insurance and childcare payments.
How Much Support Do I Have to Pay?
In Connecticut, a court considers several factors when it determines the amount of child support that one parent must pay to the other.
The two methods used most commonly to calculate basic child support are as follows:
- The Income Share Model: Under the income share model, the court uses economic tables to estimate the total monthly cost of raising the children. The parent who does not have custody pays a percentage of the cost shown in the table to the custodial parent.
- The percentage is based on their proportional share of the combined income of both parents. So, if the non-custodial parent makes 60% of the combined total income of the parents, this parent would pay 60% of the cost shown in the table;
- The Percentage Of Income Method: This method of calculating child support is relatively easy to apply. A specified percentage of the income of the parent who does not have custody is paid monthly to the parent who has custody. The percentage paid may stay the same, or vary if the income of the non-custodial parent changes.
If the parents share custody, the judge can depart from the state’s general child support calculations. A judge might lower the amount of child support owed to reflect the resources spent by the non-custodial parent during their time with the child.
Connecticut has specific guidelines in the event that a child has extraordinary medical care costs. Of course, these costs must be shared by both parents. These are costs for such items as illness, hospital visits or costly medical or dental procedures. The payments would be in addition to the payment of basic child support.
Most states have special provisions for child care costs in their guidelines, but Connecticut does not. The costs of child care are simply added into other costs of providing for the child when child support calculations are made.
As for the cost of attending college, Connecticut has no explicit requirement that these costs be covered by a child support order. A non-custodial parent would have to voluntarily agree to cover the cost of college attendance. If the parents do enter into an agreement that involves both of them paying the cost of college, it is a contract that courts will enforce.
What If I Do Not Pay Child Support?
If a person fails to pay the child support they owe, the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) of the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) can enforce the order. Generally, when a noncustodial parent first stops paying child support, an income withholding order is usually issued to the employer of the parent who owes support. The employer is then responsible for turning over some portion of the parent’s wage to the OCSS. This is known as “wage garnishment.”
If this does not succeed in getting the full amount of the child support payments owed, then the OCSS may use other collection tools to collect the money. Available tools include withholding unemployment compensation benefits, withholding retirement or pension payments, intercepting tax refunds, intercepting lottery winnings, or seizing assets from a financial institution.
Additionally, if the person who owes support fails to pay child support, they may be required to make lump sum payments for retroactive child support to make up for missed payments.
What Can the Other Parent Do If I Fail to Pay Child Support?
In addition to seeking help from the OCSS to enforce the child support order, the parent who has not received court-ordered child support can contact the Support Enforcement Services Unit (SES) of the Connecticut court system. The SES can hold the non-paying parent in contempt of court for nonpayment. The punishment for being found in contempt can include everything from an increased wage garnishment to jail time, if the non-payment was willful.
How Can I Stop Paying Child Support?
Regardless of the circumstances, a person who pays child support should never simply withhold child support. Instead, If the person’s financial situation changes or if the person believes the amount they are paying is too much, they need to go through the court to change the order.
They need to petition the court for a modification of the child support payment or any income withholding arrangement. Generally, the person who is paying child support must continue paying until the court order ends when the child turns 18, or 19 if their child is still in high school. However, they can avoid child support if they give up their parental rights to the child or if they manage to get primary custody of the child.
Do I Need a Lawyer’s Help with Child Support?
It is important to make sure children are properly cared for. Child support obligations are a serious issue in Connecticut. The process of determining the initial amount of child support, modification, and enforcement of court orders of child support can be complicated.
So, for these reasons, it is important to consult a Connecticut child support lawyer to discuss how to proceed. Your lawyer can help guide you in dealing with any problems that arise, whether an order needs modification or enforcement.
