Titled Calculate Child Support, Or You May Make An: Fill & Download for Free

I live in Florida and I have been ordered to pay $991 monthly plus $150 for backpay. So total of $1141 a month. This was based off me making $33280 a year and living with my parents. I didn't have any real bills at the time as my car was paid off.I now have a job paying 45593 a year and had to get anothet car and will soon be moving.I know they may increase my payments becuase I make more money now, but I also have more debt and bills to pay now. So is it worth trying tp go to court to get my payments reduced?The only person who can tell you that it is or is not “worth trying to go to court” is an attorney in Florida. Specific legal advice cannot be dispensed on Quora.I have no idea how your order would change, anyway, because I don’t know anything about child care, which I deduce to be the elephant in the room. From a comment on another answer, we’re told that “a magistrate set the order by looking at the guidelines.”Florida uses “income share” (the most common type of guideline calculation), so you need to know the other party’s income in order to figure a new support amount. “Income share” will figure a maintenance amount based on the parties’ combined incomes. It declines as a percentage share as the parties get better off, but the absolute number increases. There’s an “online calculator” at Florida Child Support Calculator - AllLaw.com if you do know anything about the other parent’s situation.Florida’s Guidelines are contained in F.S. § 61.30 subdivision (6). While it’s not exactly possible to figure out where the charging support of $ 991 (payments on arrears aren’t part of the means calculation, and if you pay all your arrears off there’ll be no payment on arrears) came from from the information given, a quick-and-dirty examination of the guidelines shows that they are similar to Pennsylvania’s (although they do run a couple of percentage points lower), and suggests that you might be looking at an order of approximately 20% of your “net income” plus a pro-rated amount for day care and health insurance costs (less often, other expenses). Id. (7), (8).You told us that originally your income was $ 33280 per year (or $ 2723 per month), so it’s overwhelmingly likely that the $ 991 included a sum for day care; the highest figure that could have come from the Guidelines for basic support would have been $ 597 (that’s with the $ 2723 being “net” and absolutely no income attributed to the other parent). A $ 400 contribution toward a $ 600-a-month day care bill sounds pretty plausible to me.So now you’ve told us that you are making about $ 1000 more per month now. You could expect the basic support to increase by about $ 200, give or take a few dollars for the other parent’s income, using that quick-and-dirty 20% figure. If the child’s day care costs have decreased by more than that, or the child is old enough not to need day care, you might come out ahead. Either party also has the right, under the federal Child Support Enforcement Act (also known as Title IV-D), to seek review on “change of circumstances” (defined in Florida as something that will change the order by 15% or $ 50) or after three years in any event. If your child’s other parent happens to be reading this, you might be receiving notice of their petition to modify.You imply that your own bills should have bearing on the obligation. I hear this a lot in my work as the IV-D attorney in my county in Pennsylvania, where I try six to twelve support hearings every Thursday. However, support is rarely adjusted because of the obligor’s other bills. Our law describes child support as a “high-priority expense” that obligors are expected to adjust their other expenses to meet, not the other way around. I am not admitted in Florida and wouldn’t attempt to give a detailed opinion, but a cursory review of its statute suggests that the law there is more-or-less the same as ours:(1)(a) The child support guideline amount as determined by this section presumptively establishes the amount the trier of fact shall order as child support in an initial proceeding for such support or in a proceeding for modification of an existing order for such support, whether the proceeding arises under this or another chapter. The trier of fact may order payment of child support which varies, plus or minus 5 percent, from the guideline amount, after considering all relevant factors, including the needs of the child or children, age, station in life, standard of living, and the financial status and ability of each parent. The trier of fact may order payment of child support in an amount which varies more than 5 percent from such guideline amount only upon a written finding explaining why ordering payment of such guideline amount would be unjust or inappropriate. Notwithstanding the variance limitations of this section, the trier of fact shall order payment of child support which varies from the guideline amount as provided in paragraph (11)(b) whenever any of the children are required by court order or mediation agreement to spend a substantial amount of time with either parent. This requirement applies to any living arrangement, whether temporary or permanent.F.S. § 61.30 (1) (emphases added). If there has not been a significant reduction in the day care costs (or whatever caused your order to be so high in the first place), you would be needing to ask for “deviation” and that’s where the Florida attorney comes in. Some deviation factors are listed in subdivision (11) but case law or the attitudes of the individual judge who will decide your case will affect the analysis, so your local lawyer will be far better qualified than us random people on the Internet to suggest what an allowable deviation might be.

How can the state legally take from my SSDI for child support?The garnishments are legal.Child support[1] recovery is administered and enforced federally with inter-cooperation agreements between states by law[2] [3] ; but, each state has its own rules. Communicate with your Child Support Agency.You need a court order to modify the current monthly amount and arrears.Contact your local child support office for procedures and forms. State and Tribal Child Support Agency ContactsThrough the court, the custodial can agree to waive all or part of the arrears.[4]However, if the arrears is owed to the state because the custodial parent collected social services such as food stamps or welfare, it's a debt and may be accruing interest[5] .Most states use a standard formula (statuary table) based on current income of both parents.Arrears can result in additional consequences from garnishment to loss of license to jail time depending on the state[6] .SupportPay Child Support CalculatorChild Support Laws by State - FindLawSOURCE: Child Support Guideline Models by Stateyou become disabled and begin to get Social Security benefits, you may be able to modify the amount of child support or alimony you are required to pay.Child Support Modifications Through the CourtsChild support is governed by state law (though it can be enforced at the federal level). This means that if you want to make changes to the amount of support you are ordered to pay, you must go through the court system that has jurisdiction over your case; this is usually, but not always, the state where your child is living.You'll need to ask for hearing so that you can argue to have your child support obligation reduced to an amount you think is fair, given the fact that your income has been greatly reduced. [7]SOURCE: Child Support and IncarcerationIn accordance with the Act, state attorneys may take any of the following enforcement measuresagainst a delinquent non-custodial parent:Garnishment of wagesLiens against property or real estateReporting the debtor to credit bureausFreezing bank accountsSuspension of professional or driver's license (in some states)Contempt orderJail timeIn addition, the federal Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) establishes matters of jurisdiction when more than one state is involved in a child support dispute. Specific components of the act are as follows:States must defer to child support orders entered by courts in the child's home state.Continuing exclusive jurisdiction (CEJ) is granted to the place where the order was originally entered.Only the law of the state with CEJ may be applied to modification requests.A custodial parent may have an order mailed to an out-of-state court for assistance in enforcing the order.A custodial parent may have an order mailed to the employer of the non-custodial parent (for wage garnishment).See the DHHS's Handbook on Child Support Enforcement [PDF] for more information about the nationwide partnership to collect unpaid child support.[8]Footnotes[1] Child Support Overview - FindLaw[2] Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations - Wikipedia[3] Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act - Wikipedia[4] How to Get Back Child Support Waived[5] How to Get Back Child Support Waived[6] Collecting and Enforcing Back Child Support - FindLaw[7] How to Get a Child Support Order Modified Because of a Disability[8] Collecting and Enforcing Back Child Support - FindLaw

Under the laws of most countries, parents (originally, fathers, but I do not know of a place where this does not now also apply to the mothers) are responsible for the support of their children.Historically, at common law, this showed up in civil cases through the doctrine of "necessaries". A dependent, either a child or a wife (now spouse) who needed something could obtain it from a merchant, who then had recourse against the man (parent) for the value of it notwithstanding the parent's refusal to provide it in the first place; the doctrine required a showing of basic necessity—food, shelter, medical attention, schooling, and so forth. Some states still recognize this doctrine in third-party cases (with appropriate modifications to make it sex-neutral), but others keep all support-related matters only between the parents.Neglect of a child was (and remains) also a criminal offense (though the concept of support has been largely moved to the civil courts), and a parent who wilfully failed to provide support to their children could be compelled to pay or imprisoned.In intact homes, the state has always been, and generally remains, reluctant to attempt to apportion support as a financial duty. It is presumed, absent something like a protective services investigation, that parents in intact homes are jointly providing for their children to the best of their ability as well.The absence of one (or both) parent(s) from the home does not abrogate the duty to support, and at this point the courts may get involved. After separation, the income of the non-custodial parent is not directly available to defray expenses associated with the child. A non-custodial parent may voluntarily pay support or provide it in kind, but if they do not do so, or if the custodial parent is unsatisfied with the amount, the law allows the ongoing responsibility to support a child to be reduced (via an action for support) to a financial obligation. If both parents are absent from the child's home, both parents will usually owe support to whoever has actual custody of the child.Originally, the duty to support was to provide sufficient funds to the use of the child (and payment in kind could be accepted) that the child would be able to maintain the lifestyle to which she/he was accustomed, not less than the reasonable needs of the child and within the obligor's ability to pay. This standard required a fair amount of litigation and did not consistently take the contributions and obligations of the custodial parent into account. As the number of cases increased (especially starting in the 1960s and '70s), both the time spent by the courts and the inconsistent results were called into question and there was pressure for a systematic approach to determination and collection to be devised.So the courts have come up with a system that is now used in the majority of "Western" countries, the "child support guidelines". The concept of the Guidelines is that (1) both parents (on a few rare occasions certain third parties) have the obligation to support the child to the best of their ability, and (2) that the child would have likely been entitled to x amount of in-kind support had the home remained intact (or had the parents been living together in the first place). The combined earning capacity of the parents is compared to a Guideline chart and pro-rated according to their respective incomes (or imputed incomes). Occasionally other adjustments are made to the resulting figure. Often a support order will include a generic provision allowing for pro-ration of extraordinary expenses in certain categories, most often medical bills. The concept in the Guidelines does not require the custodial parent to pay anything, but it is based on the notion that s/he is providing for the child in kind, and assigns a portion of the guideline amount for that purpose.For example, a very simple case: Say Father earns $ 2500 per month, and Mother earns $ 2000 per month. The applicable Guideline amount for the child is based on $ 4500, the parties' combined income. Let's say that figure would be $ 900 and Father is the custodial parent. Mother would be directed to pay $ 400 as Father's $ 500 would be deemed paid in kind.In most places in the U.S. (similar regimes seem to apply in a number of other countries), the guideline process will be the end of the discussion. The court will give the parties an opportunity to stipulate to an order of support, but if they do not, a hearing will be held at which the parties' incomes (or earning capacities) are calculated, and the court will apply the guidelines, set an order, and that will the amount of support payable, subject to modification for "substantial change of circumstances". In high-income cases, the old "standard to which the child has become accustomed" test is still sometimes considered.This is a "high-priority" debt and an obligor is expected to pay support before paying any other debts. Economic reality being what it is, usually all parties are worse off in when the parents live apart, but the notion is that the child should be the last to suffer. I've written a few answers on what happens if a parent doesn't pay, but jail is a significant possibility.There is a fairly comprehensive system of support collections that was established in the United States by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, by which the federal government provides block grants to the States to use for support enforcement. The IV-D Act has been amended significantly twice, in 1988 to encourage the use of Guidelines and state computerized systems, and in 1996 to require among other things that state welfare paid for the use of the child be recouped from the non-custodial parent.As the large majority of support cases in the U.S. are subject to these caveats, it's normally directed that the support be paid through a state's centralized Collection and Disbursement Unit. If you're actually party to a case, the court or agency involved will tell you where to pay. Wage attachment or a similar automatic method of payment is favored, but failures by employers to attach wages do not excuse non-payment generally.Occasionally there may be a "private pay" agreement that is given a judge's blessing, and if that happens, we in the support-enforcement agency wash our hands of the case and it's up to the lawyers in the matter to handle collection. The support is generally never paid directly to the child, although in New York, semi-emancipated children 18 years and older who are not in the physical custody of a parent may receive their support in person rather than through a guardian.Of course, the parties can also avoid court-ordered support by making private, extrajudicial, agreements between themselves. This also staves off the possibility of contempt altogether—but it has been held in most U.S. jurisdictions that since child support inures to the benefit of the child, parties may never make a permanently binding agreement that reduces support below the Guideline amount, or makes support contingent on custody proceedings—it's never a defense to support non-payment that "the other parent won't let me see the child"; parties are expected to use the custody courts to resolve those disputes—and generally a private agreement that is so high the obligor cannot reasonably afford to pay it is also subject to modification.Support generally terminates on emancipation. Emancipation is a legal determination that the child in question is capable of fending for her- or himself. Usually emancipation occurs at the later of 18 years or the child finishing high school, but a couple of states have a 21-year age of majority, and adult disabled children can theoretically be subject to a duty of support indefinitely. A child younger than 18 can be found emancipated in unusual circumstances.Although this answer is based on U.S. law, it should have some applicability in other places. Both the federal government of the United States and most of the individual States have "reciprocity" agreements with various foreign governments. Generally, under a law called the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (which is a hypothetical "uniform" law that all of the states, under federal pressure, have enacted a substantially similar version of), if the court where an order comes from has something approximating the procedures used in the U.S., it will be honored, either categorically through reciprocity or through a process called "comity" (which essentially requires that both parties had the opportunity to be heard by the foreign court). Under reciprocity proceedings, I've encountered orders from Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and a couple of Canadian provinces, all of which have essentially the same approach to support, though some of the details vary. (Orders from other U.S. states or territories must be honored under Article IV of the U.S. constitution.)