What Fathers should know about Child Support

If you are a father who wishes to contest your current child support order, including child support payments or visitation rights, contact a qualified Lead Counsel child support attorney in your area today.

What is child support, and how is child support determined?

Child support is a periodic payment made to a custodial parent from a non-custodial parent to help compensate a child’s living expenses, i.e. food, clothes, etc., and any other related debts. When one parent is awarded sole custody, as in the event of a divorce, the non-custodial parent is required to fulfill his or her child support obligation by making set payments, whereas the custodial parent meets his or her support obligation through the custody itself. When parents are awarded joint custody in a divorce, however, the support obligation is shared, and is based on a ratio of each parent's income, and the amount of time the child spends with each parent.

What factors are used to calculate child support payments? Can the amount of the payment change over time?

Under the Child Support Enforcement Act of 1984, child support payments are based upon each parent’s current income. This includes a number of elements including: occupational wages, assets such as stocks and bonds, welfare benefits. Other factors include the custodial parent’s living expenses and the standard of living of the child before divorce, the specific needs of the child; i.e. health insurance, educational needs, and applicable day care expenses, and the non-custodial parent's ability to pay. However, under such circumstances as incarceration, past-due child support would continue to accumulate (overdue payments are called arrearages or arrears), and the non-custodial parent would be responsible for paying past-due payments when released, either immediately or in installments, as mandated by a court of law.

Child support payments can be modified over time for reasons such as an increase in either parent's earnings--this can include additional income from remarriage, a decrease in income due to a job change, a change in custody--in which the child support order may be reversed, a change in the amount of time the child spends with each parent, or the specific needs of a child or either parent change due to a medical disability, etc.

How long must a parent provide child support?

Under California law, a parent's obligation to pay child support continues until the child becomes 18 years old, or the child is 19, unmarried, and attending high school full time. However, if there are arrears owed on child support, a court order may enforce collection of the arrears until the debt is paid in full, including any interest that may have accumulated. Parents are not required to support a child who has been legally emancipated by a court of law. Emancipation occurs when a minor has demonstrated freedom from parental control or support, and an ability to be self-supporting, a child that is on active military duty, or a child that becomes lawfully adopted by another party.

Is a father who never married the mother still required to pay child support? What if the father is not allowed to see the child?

Regardless of marital status, an 'assumed father' is any biological father of a child for whom paternity has been established by either the admission of the father or paternal testing. Assumed fathers are required to pay child support. Additionally, a man who never marries a child's mother, but welcomes the child into his home and supports the child as his own may gain a 'presumed' father status, and in California, the presumption of paternity holds the same rights and responsibilities of an assumed father, in regard to parental liability and monetary support.

Every parent has a financial obligation to support their children, and child support should never be confused with custodial or visitation rights. There is no state which permits a parent to withhold child support because of disputes over custody or visitation. If a non-custodial parent believes their rightful child visitations are being disrupted, it is recommended to contact a child support attorney to file a claim against the custodial parent in a court of law, rather than stop making child support payments as a form of retaliation. However, in the event of parental kidnapping, in which the custodial parent completely disappears with the child, any wage garnishments or income attachments as made for child support on behalf of the non-custodial parent would cease.

The obligation to support minor children cannot be waived by either parent and is a right enjoyed by the child, not the parent. Each state has guidelines that factor the amount of child support, such as the amount of time spent with the child, the income of both parents and the standard of living the child is accustomed to. The court may allow deductions for items such as catastrophic medical expenses and travel expenses for visitation.

What happens to a father who refuses to pay court ordered child support?

Under the Child Support Enforcement Act of 1984, it is against the law for any father, presumed or assumed, to not pay court ordered child support to the custodial guardian, regardless of joint custody. Federal laws permit the interception of tax refunds to enforce child support orders, and other methods of enforcement include wage attachments, seizure of property, suspension of a business license, and in California, driver's license revocation. In the event that none of these attempts are entirely successful, the court of law that issued the child support order can hold the father in contempt and, in the absence of a reasonable explanation for the delinquency, impose a jail term.

What remedies are available to a father if he believes his child support order is unfair?

Unless previously ruled by a court of law, fathers have the same parental rights as mothers in regard to their children, and those who believe they are a product of an unfair or biased child support ruling, regardless if they have joint or sole custody, are encouraged to contact a child support lawyer who can inform them of their legal rights, and discuss options of recourse that might be available. An experienced child support attorney can request a child support modification order to the court, based upon the legal applicability of specific circumstances that may have been disregarded or misrepresented in the initial court ruling.

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