Welcome to money-issue Wednesday. Did you know that the court doesn’t just look at your income and pick a random number out of the sky to determine child support payments? And did you know that you still have to pay child support even if your ex has custody and earns more money than you? We’re asking, because we we’ve had people question us about both issues.
How is child support calculated? The short answer is that most states use formulas or state guidelines as a starting point. Many state websites include their guidelines and some even have have child support calculators that you can use to estimate how much you will have to pay.
As we say, however, this is just at starting point. To really delve into the matter, we suggest that you read A Closer Look at State Child Support Guidelines on FamilyEucation.com. The article also provides excellent examples allowing you to see the considerations in both sole custody and joint custody cases. You’ll also get to see what happens when both parents have an income.
And if you’re still wondering why both parents have to pay child support even when the custodial parent has a higher income, it’s because both of you the parents of your children and the court believes that children are entitled to have financial and emotional support from both parents. Isn’t this what happens, in most cases, when everyone is living together? Your combined incomes gave your children what they needed. The court is ensuring that this continues.
You’ll find other divorce related financial topics under Money Issues.
Related articles
- How to Collect Child Support – Reposted by JP and Tracy (recentlyseparatedwhatisnext.wordpress.com)
