Child Support is an ongoing financial obligation paid by the residential parent to the non-residential parent to assist with the expenses related to raising a child.

Every legal parent is responsible for the financial support of their children. Therefore, this law applies to parents who are divorcing, who were never married, or who have legally adopted children.

There are several factors that are considered when determining the appropriate child support amount: 

1)        Income: The income of both parents is considered. This includes income from almost all sources, including any bonuses and commissions.

2)        Number of Children: The more children, the higher the support that will be ordered.

3)        Health care: Costs related to medical insurance coverage for the children is factored into the calculation 

4)        Parenting Time: The amount of parenting time that each parent has can affect the amount of child support.

5)        Special Needs: If a child has a disability or special needs, additional support may be factored into the support calculation

How is child support calculated if I have no income?

Even if you are unemployed and have no income, a Judge can order that you have to pay child support. If a Judge believes you are voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, they may calculate child support for you based on an imputed income. This income would be based on your employment history, age, phsyical health, and current job opportunities in your field. If there is not an employment history, the Judge may impute your income at minimum wage.

Does the court always follow the formula for child support?

A judge may order a deviation from the guideline child support if they deem guideline child support would not be appropriate given the child’s or the parent’s financial circumstances. For example, if a child has special needs, a judge may order an upward deviation of child support to address those needs of the child.

What does child support cover? 

Child support covers the child’s necessities so that a child’s daily needs are addressed. This includes groceries, housing, clothing, toys, school supplies and everyday living expenses. However, child support does not cover things such as extracurricular activities, uncovered medical expenses, educational expenses and child care expenses. These expenses will usually be split between the parties, proportionately to their income.

Is paying child support optional? 

No, paying child support is mandatory. Failure to pay child support could result in a Judge finding you in contempt of court. If you are found in contempt court, the court can fine you, suspend your driver’s license, garnish your tax refund and even put you in jail.

Can I change my child support obligation?
If there is a substantial change in circumstances, you can request a modification of child support. A substantial change in circumstances could be a significant change to either party’s income or a change to the parenting time schedule. The change to financial circumstances cannot be voluntary. For example, you cannot choose to quit your high-paying job and ask to modify child support because you are no longer receiving that income.

When does your child support obligation end? 

A child support obligation ends when the child emancipates. Usually, emancipation occurs when:

1) The child turns 18 OR 

2) If the child is still in high school, when the child graduates high school or turns 19 (whichever happens first). 

However, please be advised that parents are still responsible for the college educational expenses. Please see our blog post on college expenses here: College Expenses in Divorce Additionally, it is also possible to obtain support for an adult child with a disability.

Some of the biggest factors affecting the cost of your divorce or custody case are:

1)How much do you and your spouse disagree on?

2) How cooperative and timely will each of you be about providing your financial information?

3) How complex are the issues in your divorce or custody case?

4) Who is your lawyer and who is your spouse’s lawyer?

There are a lot of things you can do to reduce the cost of your divorce or custody case, here are some specific examples how you can save money on your divorce.

1)How much do you and your spouse disagree on?

TIP: Narrow down these issues by getting realistic and strategic advice from your lawyer, engaging in assertive settlement tactics from the beginning, working with a mediator, or talking with your spouse to cross items off your list. At our firm, we will come up with a plan from day one for how to approach your case strategically and cost-effectively.

2) How cooperative and timely will each of you be about providing your financial information?

TIP: Do your “homework.” We give our clients specific instruction on what documents and information they need to provide. If you send your documents in an organized and timely fashion, that is less money that you need to pay in legal fees. We are happy to scan and organize everything for our clients if you do not want to lift a finger, but most people want to save the money!

3) How complex are the issues in your divorce or custody case?

TIP: A divorce with no children has less issues than one with children. A W-2 income is easier to quantify than self-employed income. This is an area where it is smart to have a thorough consultation with an attorney so that we can give an accurate quote and strategize about how to approach the divorce most efficiently.

4) Who is your lawyer and who is your spouse’s lawyer?

TIP: This has got to be the most overlooked factor when determining how much a divorce is going to cost. A great lawyer will bill fairly and think strategically about ways to save you money. A bad one… will not. You can control who you hire of course but many people don’t realize that you can also have influence on who your spouse hires! We counsel clients on how to “set the tone” in their case from day one and the right tone often leads the other party to hire someone who matches that tone (reasonable, proactive, collaborative etc.)

Book a free consultation with Taradash Given today so we can give you an honest and informed answer of what to expect cost-wise in your divorce, child support or custody case.

Divorce mediation is a process where a neutral third party, known as a mediator, helps separating couples (married and unmarried) reach agreements on issues of child custody (parenting time and decision-making), division of assets, and financial support. Unlike traditional divorce proceedings where decisions are often made by a judge, mediation empowers the couple to communicate directly and create their own tailor-made plan.

The mediation process is usually much cheaper than the traditional litigation route where two lawyers engage in a back and forth of exchanging documents and settlement proposals and engage in expensive court proceedings. Picture a game of telephone and how garbled the message is at the end of it. Wouldn’t it be better to sit at the same table and just talk to each other directly with a professional guiding the way?

This cost savings for clients is one of the biggest reasons Morgan Given started her mediation practice. After watching too many couples dwindle their savings through the court process, she was drawn to mediation as a way to help prevent that. She feels passionately about helping people save money in the divorce process.

So, how much does mediation in a divorce or custody case actually cost? Several factors impact how much divorce mediation will cost, including:

1) The number of issues that you need to work out with your spouse or partner.
2) The complexity of the issues that you are deciding.
3) How prepared YOU are.
4) Whether or not you use a private mediator or a free mediator provided through the court.

1. The number of issues that you need to work out with your spouse or partner. Some couples come to mediation with just one issue, say how much should maintenance be? Some couples need to mediate dozens of issues related to parenting time, child support and division of assets and more. The amount of issues that need to be decided impacts the cost.
2. The complexity of the issues that you are deciding. Do you or your spouse own businesses or several pieces of real estate? Are there challenging logistics at play like complicated work schedules or a long distance between the parents’ homes? The level of complexity of each issue will impact the total cost of mediation. However, these issues are also uniquely well suited to mediation because you have more information than anyone else about your particular situation. If you were to ask a judge to come up with a parenting schedule on the spot, he or she would not know the intricacies of the kids’ and parents’ schedules the way that you do.
3. How prepared YOU are. This is a factor that is often overlooked. If you and your spouse come to mediation prepared you will save a great deal of money. As a mediator, Morgan’s approach is to assign “homework” to each spouse in advance of each session such as collecting financial documents, reviewing a proposal in advance, or consulting with an appraiser. This leads to a more productive session and a much lower overall cost.
4. Whether or not you use a private mediator or a free mediator provided through the court. Some counties offer a form of free mediation. These are typically limited to two sessions and only address issues related to parenting time and decision-making (what we used to call custody). The court-provided mediators will not address financial issues like child support or the division of marital property and will typically not allow attorneys to participate in the sessions. For some couples, the free mediation service is absolutely the way to go. In situations where you want to move quickly, address financial or more complex parenting issues or involve your attorneys in the mediation session, you will likely want to consider a private mediator.

So, what is the actual cost? The “typical” mediation case that we handle costs around $2,000-$6,000, with that cost split between the couple. If you are interested in exploring mediation, contact our office to schedule a free consultation with Morgan Given.