When a couple is divorcing, important questions include how much will the child support award be, and who will pay it? And will there be an alimony (spousal maintenance) award, and how much will it be?
The states provide guidelines so that parents and/or their attorneys can estimate the answers to these questions. One should be cautious when utilizing child support guidelines that are found online or through other sources. As guidelines, they are exactly that – simply guidelines or predictions to be used for suggesting approximate support figures. The guidelines themselves are not meant to replace the actual calculations determined by a court.
What Are Child Support Guidelines?
When a couple divorces and there are children, how is the amount of child support determined? Which parent will have to pay it? The law requires both parents to pay part of the cost of raising the child, and it assumes that each parent can or should work and earn an income.
State and city governments have developed support guidelines to give divorcing parents an idea of the factors that will be considered in determining child support amounts. Support guidelines may be issued by the state government, or by more local government entities. They are typically available to the public through court publications online or through private publications. They may be associated with online child support calculator websites.
What Are Some Factors Used in Support Guidelines?
Child support guidelines will incorporate several factors, including:
- Each parent’s gross monthly income from all sources
- How many children each parent has
- Any child support orders already in place for either parent
- Any spousal maintenance orders for either parent
- The amount of any benefits the child(ren) receive from Social Security or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs because of a parent’s disability or retirement
- The monthly cost for medical and dental coverage
- The amount of child care costs
- The amount of parenting time each parent will get with the child(ren). Typically, the parent who has the child the greatest number of days/hours will receive child support, and the other will pay it
- Any special educational costs, or physical, emotional or mental needs of the child(ren)
- The cost of any extracurricular activities
What Happens if One Party Refuses to Provide the Information Used to Calculate Child Support?
If one of the parties does not provide information to address these issues, the court will set child support based on other available evidence, including past work experience and/or testimony of the other parent.
The court can also set a minimum amount provided for in the law, including calculating monthly income by assuming that the parent is capable of working at least 30 hours per week and earning 100% of the current federal minimum wage or state minimum wage, whichever is higher.
Is There a Cost of Living Adjustment for Child Support?
Because the cost of clothing, food, housing, and transportation goes up over time, most child support orders say that the amount of child support can be adjusted every 2 years based on increases in the cost of living.
Cost of living adjustment increases do not usually happen automatically unless the county child support office is involved in collecting support. The party who is receiving the child support must ask the court to change the amount of child support based on increases in the cost of living.
How Do You Enforce a Child Support Order?
The enforcement process can be complicated. There may be more than one way for you to try to enforce child support. Talk to a lawyer if you are not sure which enforcement option is best for you.
One enforcement option is a Motion for Contempt of Court. If a party repeatedly fails to obey an order to pay child support, the other party can ask the judge to hold them in contempt of court. They will be held in contempt if they were ordered to pay support, knew about the order, and have refused to pay without good reason.
A person in contempt of court is typically given a chance to correct the problem. If the parent does not do what the judge orders to correct the problem, the person can actually be put in jail until they are willing to follow the order.
Other enforcement options include:
- Suspension of a driver’s license or occupational license (e.g. doctor’s or lawyer’s license)
- A lien on a motor vehicle
- Tax refund offsets
- Income withholding
Spousal Maintenance Guidelines
Because of historically great differences in the amount of income a husband and a wife would be expected to be able to earn after a divorce, spousal support (alimony) used to be routinely awarded to the wife. Spousal maintenance is not ordered nearly as often now.
Factors that go into whether or not a spouse receives support include:
- If the spouse seeking support lacks sufficient property, including marital property distributed to the spouse in the divorce proceedings, to provide for the reasonable needs of the spouse, taking into consideration the standard of living established during the marriage
- If the spouse seeking support is incapable of self-support through employment, to keep the standard of living established during the marriage.
- If the spouse seeking support is the custodian of a child or children that are of the condition or age that make it appropriate for the individual to forgo employment for the sake of taking care of the child(ren)
The amount and duration of support are considered dependent on a few factors, including, but not limited to:
- The financial resources of both parties, including marital property, and the ability of both parties to support their needs independently of each other.
- The ability of the more monetarily independent spouse to provide support while continuing their standard of living.
- The time needed for the dependent spouse to obtain appropriate job training, education, and employment to be able to independently return to the standard of living established during marriage.
- The duration of the marriage and the role of either spouse as a homemaker.
- The length of absence from employment of either party for the benefit of the marriage.
- The contributions of both parties to the marriage and marital properties.
Assuming spousal maintenance is awarded, here is an example of how the amount would be calculated (based on Minnesota law):
- Spouse 1 makes $100,000 per year
- Spouse 2 makes $25,000 per year
- The marriage lasted 10 years (120 months)
- The amount of monthly spousal maintenance will be approximately $2,000 and will be due each month for 60 months (half the length of the marriage).
- If the marriage lasted more than 20 years, the maintenance order will be permanent – i.e., the maintenance will have to be paid until one spouse dies.
Any other factor the court deems relevant to the specific case will also be taken into consideration. In the end, the final judgment is based on the court’s decision.
Do I Need a Lawyer for Help with Support Guidelines?
Each state has different laws when it comes to child support and spousal support guidelines. If you need assistance in getting a support award calculated, you may wish to contact a local child support lawyer or an alimony lawyer for advice.
Your attorney can review all the factors surrounding your situation to determine the optimal amount for support awards. Also, a qualified attorney can provide assistance in the event of a lawsuit and court hearings to make and enforce the support determinations.
