California’s child support formula and guidelines
When a couple’s relationship goes downhill, it creates a family issue that affects the financial well-being of a child. Divorcing parents or unmarried parents who decide to separate must resolve the issue of child support during the breakup. Under such circumstances, the California’s child support guidelines will play a role.
Guidelines are developed to clarify principles, create reliable rules and resolve conflicts. The same goes with California’s child support guidelines. The Department of Child Support Services established a child support guidelines. These help the court, child support participants and family law professional to resolve child support issues. The basis of the child support guidelines are each parent’s net disposable monthly income and the amount of time provided by each parent.
When it comes to child support payments, the court takes all sources of income into consideration, regardless of whether it is subject to tax under federal and state law. Sources of income include investments and property, wages from a job, commissions, bonuses, unemployment benefits, interest, rental income and disability and workers compensation benefits.
To determine the net disposable income of each parent, the court subtracts certain items from each parent’s income. These items include taxes, health premiums, mandatory union dues, costs of raising children from another relationship and paid spousal or child support. The court also acknowledges the percentage of time each parent spends with a child in determining the child support payment amount.
Issues concerning money often create conflicts. However, if there is a certain rule in place that provides specific regulation to solve the problem such as child support guidelines, potential disagreements and disputes can be avoided. This is what child support guidelines and formula can do to Californians. It saves parents from controversial disputes, and helps them focus on the well-being of the child.
Source: Childsup.ca.gov, “California Guideline Child Support Calculator,” Accessed on Nov. 25, 2014
