Child Support Basics

What Is Child Support?

When parents of a minor child separate or divorce, they must continue meeting their responsibilities to their child, including the obligation to provide financial support to meet the child's needs, including the need for shelter, food, and clothing.

How Is Child Support Determined?

All states have specific guidelines or formulas used to calculate the the appropriate amount of child support. Although the guidelines vary from state to state, they are generally based on both parents' incomes and the amount of time the child spends with each parent. Typically, the noncustodial parent or the parent with significantly higher income will pay child support.

Parents will need to exchange financial information with one another so that they can understand each other's income, expenses, assets, and debts, all of which are necessary to determine the total amount of support. Once this information has been exchanged and the parents have agreed on a custody schedule, they can calculate support.

Most guidelines and even child support calculators are available on state websites. For example, the California Office of Child Support Services provides an online child support calculator. Check your state department of child support services to see if they provide something similar. Alternatively, most local child support offices provide a child support calculator, like the one provided by the San Francisco Department of Child Support Services.

If parents can't determine child support on their own, they can contact their local Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) (also called the Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) in some states) for help. The local office can open a child support case on behalf of the child and determine the appropriate amount of support.

Some parents work with a mediator and/or individual attorneys who can calculate the appropriate amount of child support. If parents agree to child support on their own—or with the help of a mediator or attorneys—they can sign a child support agreement and submit it to a judge for review and approval. If the court approves the amount, it's then converted into an official child support order.

When parents can't agree, they will have to go to court and ask a judge to set the amount. Or parents can ask their local OCSS to obtain an order on the child's behalf.

How are Child Support Orders Enforced?

Once established, a child support order must be obeyed. If not, custodial parents may go to court on their own, or ask an attorney or their local OCSS to help enforce the order and collect any overdue amounts. The parent, an attorney, or OCSS can file a motion asking a judge to enforce the child support order.

A delinquent parent may be subject to any, or all, of the following enforcement or collection tools:

• Wage Deductions – the custodial parent, his or her attorney, or OCSS can request an income withholding order or wage assignment. With a wage deduction, child support is taken directly out of the non-custodial (paying) parent’s wages.
• Federal Income Tax Intercepts – the state can intercept a large tax refund to cover late or missing child support payments.
• License Suspensions and Revocations – a delinquent parent’s driver’s license(s) and/or professional license(s) may be revoked.
• Passport Restrictions – a parent that fails to pay child support may be prevented from renewing his or her passport (and therefore prevented from leaving the country).
• Contempt of Court – this is a legal order that may result in a fine or jail time for the parent who fails to make court-ordered support payments.

The U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) can also intervene in child-support cases where the paying parent lives in a state other than where the child lives, and:

• refuses to pay child support for over 1 year
• where the amount owing is more than $5000, or
• where the non-custodial parent travels to another state or country to avoid paying child support.

The punishment include fines and up to 6 months in prison (or both) for a first offense. For a second offense, or where child support hasn’t been paid for more than 2 years, or the amount owing is more than $10,000, the punishment is a fine of up to $250,000 or 2 years in prison, or both.

Does Child Support Differ for Unmarried Parents?

Whether they ever married or not, both parents are responsible to provide their children with financial support even after they separate. For married parents, both are presumed to be the biological and/or legal parents of the children born to them during their marriage (although for some same-sex couples, they will also pursue a second-parent adoption to solidify their parental rights). Biological and/or legal parents are automatically obligated to provide financial support to their children after a separation or divorce.

For unmarried parents, as long as there is no question as to the parental status of the noncustodial parent who is obligated to pay support, the court will issue and enforce a child support order.

If there is a question as to parental status, then that issue will have to be resolved first. For example, if an unmarried father never established paternity by signing an affidavit acknowledging paternity or a declaration of paternity, then the court will have to establish paternity before it will issue an order that the father pay support.