Sunday, September 28, 2008

Child support questions answered

1. How is child support figured? Extremely poorly! Child support figures are based on a complex formula that is outdated and out of touch. I have never found anyone able to live even close to equally on the figures that the child support calculator provides, without paying more—often far more—than the guidelines require. The guidelines are just that—a minimum recommendation. Pay what your kids need, not just what the law makes you cough up.


2. Is it true that child support will go down if parenting time goes up? Even though the check to or from your ex may change, the amount of money you spend on your kids usually goes up—way up—with every extra day they are with you. The way to get off the cheapest on taking care of your kids is to have zero parenting time and pay whatever the calculator says.


3. What the ways you can pay child support? Married people don’t pay child support; they just earn money and pay the expenses that come in. Paying child support in the least disruptive way to your children is the best option. You can pay by check or direct deposit. If you’re behind on payments or you just want not to bother with checks and deposits, you can use automatic withdrawal through the state’s office of child support enforcement.


4. What if you feel your child support is too low? The bottom 25 percent of parents are usually better at deciding their affairs for themselves than the top 25 percent of judges. What you come up with on your own and put in your own divorce agreement is almost always a better fit for your children than what a court would or could order.


5. Are you stuck with a given child support figure for life? What do you do if your circumstances change? Expenses and income go up and down for married people, and divorced people are no different except in how selfish and vindictive they sometimes are. Child support can be modified if circumstances change in the lives of a parent or one or more of the children. If you want to refine what those eligible circumstances are, you may do so by contract in your divorce agreement.

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