How Much is Child Support?
One of the most common questions about child support laws and their executions is “How Much is Child Support?”. Since there are so many factors that affect child support payments, it is hard to assess how much it will be in your particular case. So, you need some information to be able to calculate the child support payments for your situation. Down here, you will find this information;
Before going into the factors that determine how much is child support, we should talk about the average amount of child support payments. Because many people think that the average amount can give them an idea about their case.
How Much Is Child Support In Average?
As we said earlier, child support payments can change drastically in different cases. Depending on the guidelines accepted by the state and the income levels of the parents, the child support payment can be extremely high for someone while it can be much lower for somebody else. So, in fact, knowing the average amount doesn’t mean anything for your particular situation. Nonetheless, we can quench your curiosity.
As stated by the Census Bureau Reports, about 60 percent of all recorded child support payments were paid to support children under the age of 21. the rest 40 percent is paid to older children or related individuals such as parents. While 15 percent of child support payor parents in these cases were females, the rest 85 percent of payor parents were males. And finally, all of these child support payments on average were about $430 monthly, or which is $5200 per year.
However, remember that these numbers do not apply to your particular circumstances. They are also taken from an old report. So, let’s move on to the details that you need to know to be able to estimate the payment for your situation.
Estimating How Much Is Child Support
No matter which state you live in, all child support guidelines have a common aspect. They all adjust the support payment amount based on the incomes of parents, one way or another.
However, there are many states in the US that use different base models for their Child Support Guidelines. We have articles where we talked about the commonly used models on our website, you can find more information on those pages. To put it simply, the most accepted child support model in the US is The Income Shares Model.
According to this model, support payments are determined by considering both of the parents’ incomes combined. After calculating the financial expenses the child needs, this amount is ordered to be paid by both parents in ratios of their incomes to their combined income of them.
This description may confuse you. But it is simpler than it sounds. Let’s say the non-custodial parent has a $2000 monthly income, while the custodial parent has a $1000 income per month. The combined income is $3000 which makes the share of the non-custodial parent about 66 percent of the combined income. So, if the court decides that the financial support the child needs and additional childcare costs are $500 per month, the non-custodial parent would pay 66% of this amount which is about $330.
As we mentioned earlier, depending on the state you are located in, the guidelines can change how much is child support payment. Even when the base child support model is The Income Shares Model, in some states, the combined income of the parents is calculated by considering their gross incomes while in some states their net incomes are calculated.
Also, some states use different child support models as the base of their guidelines. These models can change how much child support payments. For example with another model called The percentage of income”, support payments are determined by calculating a certain percentage of only the noncustodial parent’s income.
More Info:
It is best if you learn about your state’s child support guidelines if you want to estimate how much is child support payment. We have articles that can help you with this subject. We suggest you check out our “Child Support Laws by State” article.
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