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Child Support in California

Written by: Michael Anthony Turek

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Posted over 3 years ago. Applies to California, 3 helpful votes, 1 comment

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All parents are required to pay child support as long as their children are minors (and sometimes even into adulthood in the case of disabled adult children who are unable to earn a living). The amount is calculated using a formula based on the income levels of both parents and the amount of time each parent has custody of the child. Arrears (unpaid, overdue support) must be paid plus interest.

Procedure for seeking support in California

Child support issues are typically raised in the context of a divorce. While child support is often part of a divorce settlement or judgment, the court can order child support to be paid while the case is ongoing. However, the parents do not need to be divorcing, or even to have ever been married, for child support to be ordered.

If the parents were never married, the father's identity is usually legally established through a Voluntary Declaration of Paternity. If no such document was signed by the father, then child support needs to be obtained through what is called a paternity case, which is initiated through a Petition to Establish Parental Relationship. If such a petition is filed, and the father either agrees that the child is his, or the court rules it is his after a blood or DNA test, then child support will be ordered as part of the judgment on paternity.

Calculating child support in California

California uses a complicated formula to calculate the amount of child support required. The main factors that determine the amount of support to be paid are both parents' incomes and the amount of time each parent has custody of the children. The formula also takes into account certain types of basic expenses that detract from each parent's income, such as union dues, health insurance premiums, mandatory payments into a retirement plan, and child support paid to others for children from other relationships. In addition to the amount determined by the formula, both parents will be required to contribute toward child care and uninsured medical expenses for the children, and also may be required to help pay for education and travel costs for visitation.

Arrears

Once a court orders a parent to pay a certain amount each month in child support, that amount may only be changed with a request for modification. It is not difficult to get a court to modify the amount if one or both parents have a change in income or if there is a change in custody timeshare. If the court does not modify the amount ordered, however, then the original amount must be paid, notwithstanding any side agreements the parents may make between themselves.

Department of Child Support Services

If you need help obtaining, modifying, or enforcing a child support order, the Department of Child Support Services can act on your behalf free of charge. A paying parent needs to understand that DCSS is not the law; they are essentially like a free lawyer representing the support recipient, and therefore their assertions do not represent the court's position. If they take a position which the payor thinks is incorrect, the payor has the right to oppose them in court and try to persuade the judge to rule in their favor.

Tax issues and child support

Child support payments are not taxable income: The parent who receives the money does not include it in his or her income for tax purposes, and the parent who pays it cannot deduct it. The dependency exemptions for the children are presumed to belong to whichever parent has the children the majority of the time, but the parties can agree to allocate it to whichever parent they choose.