Child Support

Damian Nolan is a Family Law and Child Support Attorney from Long Beach, California, servicing the courts of Los Angeles County, Riverside County, and Orange County.

What is Child Support?
Child support is the amount of money that one parent is ordered by the court to pay to the other parent every month for the support of the child(ren). The payment is usually paid one half at the beginning and one half at the middle of each month by way of wage assignment.The California Legislature has devised a formula or guideline for figuring out how much should be paid in child support. The most commonly used software for support calculation is the Dissomaster.

There are numerous factors utilized in the determination including, but not limited to, the income of the parties; the amount of time the child spends with the non-custodial parent; the tax filing status of the parties; whether child support is paid for other children; the cost of healthcare; mortgage interest deductions and property tax deductions; whether there is mandatory retirement (for employees such as teachers); are there other children living at home; is there a daycare expense etc, etc.

Child support is usually paid until the child(ren) turn 18, or 19 if they are still in high school full time, living at home, and can't support themselves. Parents may agree to support a child longer. The court may also order that both parents continue to support a disabled adult child that is not capable of working to support himself/herself.

Informal orders are not usually enforceable and therefore a parent should file papers with the court to establish support orders. Then, if the support is not paid there are legal remedies available to the obligee (receiving) party. Such remedies can include interest payments on the arrearages, contempt actions and, if there is a retirement available, the Obligor's (payor's) retirement can be ordered to make the payment immediately with the Obligor ordered to pay the taxes.

It is not that terribly unusual for one parent to quit a job or find that overtime has miraculously disappeared just at the time when support is being sought for the child(ren). There are, of course, remedies available to the custodial parent in such circumstances including asking the court to impute income to the Obligor pursuant to case law. ("Padilla")

REMEMBER! Children and child support should not be used as a phsycological weapon against the other parent. Children have an absolute right to be financially supported by both parents.

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