Divorce Guide

Child support guidelines

Child support is a major issue between the divorced couples with children. Most of the couples have tough time deciding the child support issues. This article has some child support guidelines that can help divorcing parents have a better perspective of providing and receiving child maintenance.

Divorce is a tough time for the whole family. While the couples are trying to come out of the emotional trauma brought by the end of their marriage, at the same time they have to deal with complicated issues like child support.

In order to understand the concept of child support let us first see what happens with child during divorce. After divorce one of the parents gets the legal custody of the child which means that he or she becomes the residential parent of the child. The other parent is the non residential parent who is supposed to pay the child maintenance fee to the other parent.

The purpose of child support is to ensure that both the parents undertake equal financial responsibility of bringing up the child. Thus the non residential parent is supposed to pay fixed amount of money on a regular basis, till a fixed period of time. It is legally binding for the non residential parent to pay the child maintenance.

As part of the child support guidelines the divorcing couples must know the following important points:

1. Child support is non-taxable. You might feel that child support is a constant financial burden on you, but the good news is that the money paid as child support is completely non taxable. They are not deductible by the paying parent and not taxable to the receiving parent.
2. Child support amount is not same for everyone. It depends on various factors like earning of both the parents, number of children, day to day needs of the child, age of the child, and so on. There is a fixed formula to calculate the child maintenance fee. A good divorce attorney specializing in child support or CSA would be able to tell the exact amount you will have to pay as maintenance.
3. Child support is only paid till the child is an adult. After that the parent does not need to pay any support if unless specified by the court.
4. The amount paid as the child support can be modified in future if both or any of the parents want this. The court considers the request if there is a change in circumstances like decrease in custodial parents income, decrease in non residential parent’s income, increase in the cost of living, rise in educational fee of the child, or a medical expenditure.
5. An unmarried parent is also legally binding to pay child support if the other parent demands this. The mother has to first establish that the person is the real father of the child and then she can demand child support from the unmarried parent.

The above mentioned are some basic child support guidelines for divorcing couples. Child support becomes a difficult deal for many couples. In such cases it is best to consult a specialist attorney in order to solve issues related to maintenance.

Divorce and Children
Divorce Laws
Financial Issues
Legal Information
Divorce in Switzerland
Divorce Advice for Europeans
Post Divorce Issues
Divorceand Legal Assistance