Child Support
Child support is usually a matter of pluging numbers into a spreadsheet. The following monthly information is used:
1. Father's gross income;
2. Mother's gross income;
3. Pre-existing, court-ordered alimony or child support payments;
4. Alimony awarded in this matter, if any;
5. Work related daycare; and
6. Health insurance premiums for the child.
The information is put into a spreadsheet that produces a monthly child support obligation. If the parties have a combined income of less than $120,000 per year, the Maryland Child Support Guidelines apply. For combined income in excess of $120,000 per year, a computer program that extrapolates the guidelines is used. By law, combine incomes above $120,000 require the court to make a determination about how much child support is appropriate. In practice, the courts use the computer program to extrapolates the guidelines. For very large income, over about $250,000 per year combined, a determination is usually made by looking at the actual expenses (or by guessing).
As with everything involving lawyers and the courts, a lot of issues arise over these calculations. It is surprising how often a parent's income suddenly drops dramatically just before child support is to be calculated. If someone has their own business, their income can be manipulated and is often not fully reported on their tax returns. If someone has been receiving large bonuses for years, they will often claim that they no longer receive those bonuses. Some people will deliberately reduce their income in hopes of lowering their child support obligition. This is known as voluntary impoverishment. If the court finds that someone has voluntarily improverished themselves, the court can calculate child support as if the person still had the income. This is known as imputing income. Imputing income has become fashionable of late. Court has been unrealistically finding that people are impoverished if they ever made more money in the past, or if they could make more money now. The judge often reasons that child support is good for the child, so let's make it as high as possible.
"Health insurance premiums for the child," means the difference between the premium for the individual plan and the family plan that includes the child.
Additional expenses can also be added in. Extraordinary medical expenses, which are uncovered expenses above $100, can be added into the calculations. More often payments toward extraordinary medical expenses are not figured into child support, but rather are ordered separately in the same percentage as the parties' income. For example if someone has 60% percent of the income, they can be ordered to pay 60% of any extraordinary medical expenses.
Payment toward private school expenses can also be ordered. Private school is usually seen as a luxury for which a parent is not required to pay, but for high levels of income or where the parties have established a history of private school by agreement, private school expenses are often included in child support. As with extraordinary medical expenses, payment toward private school expenses can be separately ordered as percentage of income.
Travel expenses for visitation can be included in the child support calculations. Travel expenses are not usually ordered. When ordered they are usually dealt with separately as a percentage of income.
Child support can be enforced by way of contempt, which means you can be put in jail for failing to pay. Contempt proceedings can be civil or criminal. If civil, when someone is found in contempt for failing to pay, they must be given the opportunity of paying a "purge." A purge is a payment of money that clears the contempt. A purge has to be an amount that the person actually has the ability to pay. In a criminal contempt, no purge is set. If someone is found in contempt for failing to pay, they are criminally convicted and can be sent to jail. In Baltimore City, all contempt actions brought by child support enforcement are handled as criminal contempt. In the counties, criminal contempt is usually a last resort used when even repeated civil contempt has not worked.
A parent seeking child support can seek child support themselves as part of a custody or divorce case. The parent can also enroll with child support enforcement. Child support enforcement has attorneys on staff who will pursue the matter at no charge. If a parent does get a child support order themselves, they can have the order enrolled with child support enforcement, so that payments are made through child support enforcement. If payments are not made, then child support enforcement can pursue contempt and other collections procedures.
Lee S. Ashmore is a Maryland divorce lawyer who handles family law matters, including divorce, child custody, visitation, child support, alimony, property division, adoption, guardianship, separation agreements, domestic violence, paternity, contempt, and collections in Howard County, Maryland, Columbia, Maryland, Ellicott City, Maryland, Elkridge, Maryland, Savage, Maryland, Clarksville, Maryland, Glenelg, Maryland, West Friendship, Maryland, Glenwood, Maryland, Highland, Maryland, Marriottsville, Maryland, Woodstock, Maryland, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Laurel, Maryland, Jessup, Maryland, Glen Burnie, Maryland, Annapolis, Maryland, Fort Meade, Maryland, Crofton, Maryland, Beltsville, Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland, Catonsville, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland, Silver Spring, Maryland, Olney, Maryland, Burtonsville, Maryland, Prince George's County, Maryland, College Park, Maryland, Bowie, Maryland, through litigation, negotiation, mediation, and collaborative law.
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