All parents have a legal duty to provide financial support for their children. When parents separate or divorce, the court may order either or both parents to make regular payments to the other parent to cover a child’s living and medical expenses. This periodic payment is called child support.
Child support is determined using state guidelines established in accordance with federal mandates. Child support guidelines vary significantly from state to state, but they are all generally based on the parent’s incomes and expenses and the needs of the children.
For purposes of deciding child support, the court will consider a parent’s income received from all sources, whether or not it is reported or taxed under federal law. The income can be in the form of money, property or services. When determining child support, the courts will require each parent to provide a financial statement that lists all sources and amounts of income and all expenses before issuing an order.
Under California law, a parent’s obligation to pay child support generally continues until the child reaches the age of 18, or 19, if the child is unmarried and attending high school full time. However, a court may continue a child support order beyond the age of 19 where special circumstances exist. Also where child support arrears are owed the other parent may continue to enforce collection of the arrears until the arrears are paid in full, including interest on the arrearages.
A child support order may be modified if there has been a substantial change in circumstances, such as, an increase or decrease in either parent’s earnings, a change in custody, or a change in the amount of time the child spends with each parent.
The simplest way to modify child support is for the parents to agree to a change. However, the court must approve the change in order for the new support amount to be enforceable.
When there is no voluntary agreement, the party seeking the change must request a court hearing at which each side will present their reasons for requesting or opposing the change.
If you want to establish a new child support order or need to modify an old support order, attorney Lorri M. Thompson can help you by calculating the approximate amount of guideline support due and filing a motion with the court to establish or modify child support.