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Child support is designed to provide financial support for the parent with primary custody of children. Everyone involved in Texas family law seems to have an opinion regarding child support. What we would like to do in today’s blog post from the Law Office of Bryan Fagan is investigate further. Specifically, what are the factors that are considered when assessing child support? Additionally, how is child support calculated?
These are the sort of specific, pertinent questions that you can expect to have answered for you when you work with the attorneys at the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. We take seriously the responsibility of caring for our clients. Our attorneys look at our clients as individual people with needs that are unique. Rather, our attorneys provide personalized advice and service based on your circumstances. When working with our attorneys, you will see that we do not take you or your family for granted.
That said, let’s explore the subject of child support in greater detail. As we mentioned a moment ago, everyone seems to have an opinion regarding child support. What our attorneys aim to do for our clients is to provide you with experience. We know that a person with an experience is not at the mercy of a person with an opinion. Today’s blog post will allow you to gain experience based on the years our attorneys have spent inside the courtrooms of Texas.
Guideline calculation of child support
The Texas Family Code contains an established method for calculating child support. The guideline method of determining child support is useful. If you and your co-parent are having trouble figuring out a way to calculate child support, then the guideline level of support may be for you. This is the default method for child support calculation. Go to court and put the issue of child support before a judge. The guideline calculation of child support is likely that judge’s preferred method of calculation.
As we are about to see, the guideline method may not work well for you and your family. You or your co-parent may be high-income earners. As a result, the guideline levels of child support may not account for the type of income that you earn. Additionally, your child may have a disability. That disability may place your child in a position where he or she needs to be able to have certain care over and above what standard child support pays.
What are the needs of your child?
Determining the needs of your child is a critical component of any child custody or child support case. You should not plan on approaching a case assuming that everything will turn out as it did for a friend or neighbor. Rather, you need to consider what your child is going through and his specific needs. The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan know how to help parents just like you adjust your goals and focus on what matters most for your family. We have walked beside many families just like yours who are going through a difficult time. Our attorneys are guided by our knowledge of the law. Our willingness to teach each of our clients about how to manage their cases successfully.
Determine noncustodial parent’s monthly income
The non-custodial parent in a child support case has the responsibility of paying child support. Both parents have a child in Texas and have a responsibility to contribute to the material well-being of that child. This includes paying child support. As a non-custodial parent, your responsibility lies in being able to help your child with the basic needs of their life. Child support is not about helping your child to maintain a certain standard of living. Shelter, food, and clothing are the mainstays of child support.
In your child support case, you will be responsible for providing the court with information about your net monthly income. Income takes into consideration multiple sources of income that you may have. This includes salary, commissions, rental income, and tips. It can be challenging to determine some parents’ income. For example, you may have multiple streams of income that take time to calculate. Additionally, your income may be variable. Having an attorney helps you to be able to promote and provide information to the court.
By the same token, if you are a parent who expects to be paid child support you need to be able to make sure that your co-parent’s net resources are fully explored. The last thing you want to do in this type of situation is leave stones unturned. The better you can capture all of your co-parent’s income, the better off your children will be. Sometimes it takes requesting this information formally via discovery. An experienced family law attorney can help you to ensure that you capture and discover all available income sources for a co-parent.
Counting the children before the court
The other factor that pertains to child support calculations is the number of children before the court. At first glance, this may seem like an extremely straightforward question to answer. The Texas child support guidelines have set percentages that apply to the number of children before the court. For one child, 20% of a parent’s net monthly income goes toward child support. That number increases by 5% with each additional child. A parent with six or more children cannot pay less than 40% of their net monthly income to child support each month.
Additionally, if you are a parent with children from multiple relationships then this may be a factor in your case. For example, consider a circumstance where you and your current wife are going through a divorce. However, you also have a child from a prior marriage to whom you already pay child support. The net effect of this circumstance is that you would receive a credit for the Child Support you already pay. The more children you have not before the court unless you have to pay in the current case.
Make sure that you account for all children that you are paying child support for. It is not as if you would forget about any of these children. However, you should talk to your attorney about all circumstances involving income and child support at the beginning of your case. This way you and your attorney can develop a game plan and begin to look critically at the issues in your present case. This is the best way for you to plan for and consider a wide range of issues that are relevant to your family.
Other methods for calculating child support
The great thing about Texas family law cases is that they offer families a tremendous opportunity to create solutions to the problems that they face in their case. It is not as if you must use the Texas child support guidelines. Rather, you can and should take into consideration the specific needs of your family when calculating child support. Do not assume that the guideline levels of child support are sufficient for your case. If your child has a special need or circumstance, then the child support calculations must be catered to those needs.
One of the realities for families with special needs children is that not all their costs from medical care are covered by insurance. True enough, you and your co-parent should have a plan in place for dividing up uninsured medical costs. However, depending on the size of those uninsured medical costs the two of you may need to create a plan and factor that plan into child support calculations. Uninsured medical costs are a relevant factor in your analysis. You may decide to increase the amount of child support based on the actual uninsured costs that your child incurs.
Because these calculations need to be precise you should come to the negotiating table prepared. The last thing you want is to go to mediation without a plan in place. Creating a plan with your experienced family law attorney allows you to put your best foot forward when it comes to child support. Remember that child support is calculated for the best interests of your child. The better equipped you are to create a plan with your co-parent the better off your child will be.
What about 50/50 custody?
Splitting custody time with your co-parent may offer an arrangement that suits the best interests of your child. Many families fear that their child will suffer because of a lack of contact with both parents after a divorce or child custody case. Indeed, this is a legitimate concern to have for many families. With that said, splitting custody as evenly as possible can work for certain families. You need to consider the needs of your child, your living arrangements, and the work schedules of you and your co-parent.
If you can determine a workable split custody schedule with your co-parent then you need to think more about how to have child support paid in your case. Even if you and your co-parent split custody that does not necessarily mean there will be no child support to be paid. Most family court judges will want to see some amount of child support paid. As a result, you and your co-parent need to be creative with how you calculate child support in a split custody circumstance.
The amount of child support paid could depend upon your incomes relative to one another. For instance, if you earn a great deal more annually than your co-parent does then you may pay child support to your co-parent. On the other hand, the parent who tends to pay more out-of-pocket costs for extracurricular and school activities may be the one who needs to receive child support. As with everything in a child custody case, the specific needs of your family and your circumstances should be considered first and foremost.
What if the noncustodial parent has unusually high or low income?
One of the questions that the attorneys at the Law Office of Bryan Fagan receive with regularity relates to how high and low-earning parents are treated when it comes to child support. The Texas child support guidelines do not necessarily consider this factor. Therefore, dealing with a situation where you or your co-parent are high or low earners then that is relevant in your negotiation process.
Purposefully being underemployed or unemployed is a bad idea in your child support case. For one, it certainly does not help your child that you are purposefully under-employing yourself. Underemployment refers to finding work that pays you less than you otherwise might be able to earn. Parents run into these types of circumstances when they take a job that does not pay them what their education or experience may cause them to earn otherwise. Or you may accept a job that requires you to work less and therefore earn less money. Judges can see through this ploy, and you will likely be penalized for your decision to be under or unemployed.
On the other end of the spectrum, a high-earning parent should have their income scrutinized based on the best interests of the child. Indeed, child support is not intended to help a child maintain a certain lifestyle. You should not expect a court to award you child support that will help you to live a lavish lifestyle. On the other hand, child support is intended to help your child maintain a certain stability and consistency in their life. It is reasonable to expect that the child support you receive will help your child live a life that is in line with the income of his or her parents.
Wage withholding order
A wage withholding order is a practical method courts will use to help ensure child support is paid on time and in full. After your child support case, an attorney will draft an order that requires the non-custodial parent’s employer to withhold child support each month. The child support that is withheld will go to the Office of the Attorney General. From there, payments are sent to the custodial parent. Understanding how a wage withholding order works is important for a parent. The last thing you want to do is find yourself in a position where you are needing to update or change a wage withholding order and have no idea how to do that.
Even if a wage withholding order is in place it is still the non-custodial parent’s responsibility to ensure child support is paid on time and in full each month. Many parents find themselves in undesirable situations regarding child support because of errors made during the case. You should ensure that your child support payments go through each month. You would not be the first parent to find themselves in legal trouble because of oversights about payments going through correctly.
The wage withholding order in your case should be provided to a judge for their signature at the same time as the final orders in the case. Getting all these steps completed efficiently ensures better outcomes for your children. Additionally, it helps to make sure that your case will proceed smoothly and will complete itself in a relatively short amount of time.
Importance of having an experienced family law attorney
The better your representation during an initial child support case the less likely you are to need to come back to court for any reason in the future. However, if you do find yourself needing to come back to court on a child support matter it is even more important that you have an attorney.
Sometimes circumstances change for families. When that occurs, you should consider a modification of the child’s support. Child support modifications occur when incomes change for parents or when circumstances change for children. Child support modification cases involve analyzing circumstances and presenting arguments to a judge. This is where an attorney excels.
Finally, if you are facing a child support enforcement case then you must have representation. Being able to offer defenses to the failure to pay child support can be the difference between you facing time behind bars. The failure to pay child support is a critical issue. It is best to be prepared with an experienced attorney by your side.
Questions about the material contained in today’s blog post? Contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan
The attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan offer free of charge consultations six days a week in person, over the phone, and via video. These consultations are a great way for you to learn more about the world of Texas family law. Before signing a document or negotiating on a subject you do not know well, contact our office. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you during an important part of your life. The Law Office of Bryan Fagan is on your side.
