3. How do
courts determine what a parent is able to pay?
Courts often require each divorcing spouse to fill out a financial statement to provide a
complete picture of the parents' financial situations before making a decision on child
support. In the financial statement, the spouse must detail his or her monthly income and
expenses.
4. My soon-to-be-ex-husband wants custody of our children. He has a much
higher income than I do. Will I have to pay child support, even though I earn much less
money than him?
Courts are supposed to strive for fairness to the parents in establishing the dollar
amount of child support obligations. When setting child support, a court normally
considers the relative income and assets of both spouses. If the custodial parent earns
more than the noncustodial parent, child support may be a small or nominal amount. In the
real world, however, the custodial parent is usually the mother and normally has much less
income than the noncustodial father. Accordingly, when courts consider the relative assets
and income of the parties, they usually end up awarding child support to the custodial
parent, who most often is the mother.
5. Even though I have a high yearly salary, I have many expenses such as
loan payments and income taxes. Will the court consider these expenses when determining my
ability to pay child support?
Courts always consider a person's ability to pay when setting his child support
obligations. A court looks at the payer's gross income from all sources (wages, public
benefits, interest and dividends on investments, rents from real property, profits from
patents and the like, and any other sources of income), less any mandatory deductions
(income taxes, Social Security, health care and mandatory union dues). The result is the
payer's net income.
In most states, deductions for credit union payments, wage attachments and the like are
not subtracted when calculating net income. Thus, if John makes $2,000 per month, and
income tax, Social Security, unemployment insurance benefits and other government
deductions reduce his income to $1,500, this is his net income. The fact that $300 more is
withheld to pay a credit union loan does not further reduce his net income for the court's
purposes. The reason for this rule is that the law accords support payments a higher
priority than other types of debts, and would rather see other debts not paid than have a
spouse or child go without adequate support.
