The purpose of child support is for one parent to contribute to paying the cost of raising a child or children and providing for their well-being, including food, shelter, education, medical care and all the other expenses involved in child-rearing.
The parent who does not have custody usually pays child support to the parent who has custody. When parents share custody, the parent with the higher income pays child support to the parent who has a lower income, so that the child has the same lifestyle in the household of each parent.
How Do I Petition for Child Support?
There are two ways a person can begin the process of getting child support in Pennsylvania. They are as follows:
- Directly filing a lawsuit with the Domestic Relations Section of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas; or
- Completing an application for child support with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Child Support Enforcement.
Both parents must provide the court with information about their employment, net income from employment, income from other sources and assets. If there is doubt about who the father of the child is, the court also may require that the father take a paternity test.
Which Parent Pays Child Support in Pennsylvania?
There are four factors that determine who pays child support and in what amount in Pennsylvania. These factors are:
- The schedule for physical custody of the child or children;
- The number of children for whom the support is to be paid;
- Each parent’s monthly net income;
- Certain additional expenses the parents may have to pay for the care of their children.
Child support is generally payable to the parent with primary custody of the children by the parent who has partial custody of or visitation with the children. Primary custody of the children is determined by figuring out which parent has the most overnight stays with the children in a calendar year.
The parent with primary custody is the one who has more than 50% of the overnight stays in their home. It is worth noting that a parent with partial custody of the children is entitled to a discount on the amount of child support owed if they have more than 40% of the overnight stays.
In the event of a 50/50 custody schedule child support in Pennsylvania is payable by the parent whose net income is higher to the parent whose net income is lower.
Once it has been determined which party will receive child support based on the custodial schedule, the monthly net incomes of the respective parents are determined. Net income is income after taxes are withheld, or take-home pay. It also includes income from all sources, including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, interest, rental income, and any other source.
In addition, net income includes any spousal support or alimony that one of the parents may receive. The only items that are deductible from the parents’ monthly gross incomes in order to arrive at net income are taxes, spousal support that one parent may pay to the other parent who is seeking child support, and mandatory deductions such as union dues.
Any kind of voluntary deduction from a parent’s income, such as contributions to a retirement savings account, have to be included in a parent’s monthly net income.
Other circumstances, such as split custody, can also affect the amount of child support payable under Pennsylvania law. Split custody is a situation in which each parent has primary custody of one or more of the children in families with multiple children.
How Is the Amount of Child Support Calculated?
Generally a court determines whether and how much alimony must be paid before turning to the issue of child support. The spouse with the higher income is the one who pays alimony to the spouse whose income is lower.
There are four main factors that are considered by a court in determining child support in Pennsylvania as follows:
- The physical custody schedule;
- The number of children covered by the support order;
- The monthly net incomes of the respective parents;
- Additional expenses, specified in the law, that the parents may have to pay for the care of their children.
Generally, the parent who has partial custody of the children, or visitation with them, pays child support to the parent with primary custody of them. Primary custody of the children is determined by calculating who has the most overnight stays with the children in a year. The parent with more than 50% of the overnight stays is the parent with primary custody. It is worth noting that a parent with partial custody of the children is given a discount on the amount of child support if they have more than 40% of the overnight stays.
Child support is always paid to the parent with whom the children stays overnight for more than 50% of the days in the year. If the custody arrangement is 50/50, then child support is paid by the parent with the higher income to the parent with the lower income.
For example, if a mother has primary custody and has a lower net income, the father would pay her both alimony and child support. However, if the mother has primary custody and has a higher net income than the father, should would pay the father alimony, while the father is paying her child support. This situation would result in an offset.
What If I Do Not Pay Child Support?
If there is a court order directing one parent to pay child support to the other, the paying parent must pay in order to comply with the court order. If the parent were to stop paying, they would be in violation of a court order.
The parent who receives the support would be able to take certain legal action to get the unpaid payments and punish the non-paying parent for violating the child support order.
In Pennsylvania, a parent who is entitled to child support and does not receive the payments may turn to Pennsylvania’s Child Support Enforcement Services at the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement to help them obtain child support. This child support enforcement program can assist a parent financially if they have not received the support to which they are entitled from the noncustodial parent. A parent in any of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties is also eligible to apply for child support enforcement.
The non-paying parent may experience one or more the following consequences for not paying on time:
- Taking money out of your paycheck, i.e. wage garnishment;
- Taking a tax refund check;
- Taking money out of the non-paying parent’s bank account;
- A court order that requires the parent to work or join an employment program;
- Reporting the person to a credit agency;
- Suspending the non-paying parent’s driver’s license,
- Preventing a person from getting or renewing their passport, which deprives them of their ability to leave and re-enter the U.S.;
- Payment of fines;
- A term of imprisonment in jail.
A parent who has not received child support from a noncustodial parent may still collect the unpaid amounts after their child is over the age of 18. Pennsylvania does not have a statute of limitations on collecting unpaid child support. A parent who is not financially stable enough to pay the support they owe should seek help from a state program that can arrange relief from unpaid child support or work with the court to establish a payment plan that can work for their financial situation.
What Can the Other Parent Do If I Do Not Pay Support?
In Pennsylvania, a parent who is entitled to child support and does not receive the payments may return to the court that issued the order and seek enforcement help from the court.
The court will require the paying parent to make payments on his own or take the money from his paycheck or tax refund.
Another option is Pennsylvania’s Child Support Enforcement Services in the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement. This agency of the state government can help them throughout the process of receiving child support.
The child support enforcement program can also give financial help to a parent with the child support they have not received from the non-paying parent. A parent is eligible to seek child support enforcement in any of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
When Can I Stop Paying Child Support?
A paying parent may file a petition with the court to change the child support order and end child support payments. This would be possible if there has been a significant change in the circumstances of the parents and/or the child. There would have to be justification for stopping child support. The court is not going to end the obligation simply because the paying parent asked it to do that.
Again, it is important not to stop payments, but to go to court to get a change in the order that allows the paying parent to stop their payments. It is against the law to stop paying child support payments without a change in the court order.
A court might be persuaded to change or even end a child support obligation if one of the following takes place:
- The child reaches age 18 or graduates from high school, whichever happens last;
- The paying parent loses their job;
- The paying parent and the custodial parent are now living together;
- The paying parent now has primary custody of the children;
- The paying parent is in jail; or
- The paying parent learns that they are not the father of the child or children.
Do I Need a Lawyer for Help with a Child Support Problem?
If you need help with enforcing or making a change to a child support order, you want to consult a Pennsylvania child support lawyer today to help you understand your child support rights and obligations.
