Orange County Divorce Mediation

Category Archives: Child Support

Guideline Child Support in Orange County California

Posted on by Posted in Child Support

Whether you are in an Orange County divorce, legal separation, or paternity proceeding, if you have children, you will have to deal with the issue of child support sooner or later. Child support is something that parents must deal with when their children live part of the time with one parent and part of the time with the other parent. When the parties were together, the children enjoyed the lifestyle and station in life enjoyed by the parents together, but when the parents are separated and living in separate households, child support serves as an equalizing factor to help the children share in the lifestyle of both parents.

The notion of guideline child support was developed by the California legislature to assist parties in determining the appropriate level of support based upon a number of factors, tied somewhat to the cost of living in a certain area of California. Different counties use different “guidelines” set to their geographic region. Orange County, for example, uses the Santa Clara County guideline, presumably because their cost of living indexes are so close.

Two of the most important factors that are considered when establishing guideline child support are the timeshare each parent spends with each child and the relative incomes of each party. The more time a child spends away from a parent, the more money that parent has to pay for support. The rationale behind this is that, if the child were living with the parent, the parent would be caring for his or her basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, cell phones, and other high tech gadgets (ok, maybe not the last 2) by spending their money for these things. If the child is not with the parent, then the parent should pay over a percentage of their income to the other parent to make up for the shortfall created by the child’s spending more time with the other parent, who consequently spends a relatively larger percentage of their income to maintain the child. So that is the theory behind child support.

Guideline child support can actually change, depending on certain changes in circumstances. If, for example, you had an old order based upon the parties each earning a certain amount of money or having a certain amount of time share, if any of those factors change significantly, such as when one party loses his or her job, then the change may have an impact on the level of support one party pays the other. If such a thing happens, it is a good idea to consult an Orange County Child Support Lawyer to see if you should modify child support to reflect the current situation.

How Long Is Child Support Due in California?

Posted on by Posted in Child Support, Terminating Child Support

It is a common question that most parents dealing with Orange County child support issues have.  Whether you are the child support payor or the recipient, it is often a struggle for each parent to manage a budget and adequately meet their child’s needs.  There are two California statutes that should be read together to understand the duration of child support in California.  The first one is Family Code section 3900 (2012 version), which says, “Subject to this division, the father and mother of a minor child have an equal responsibility to support their child in the manner suitable to the child’s circumstances.”  In the next section, Family Code section 3901 (2012 version) goes on to state, “(a) The duty of support imposed by Section 3900 continues as to an unmarried child who has attained the age of 18 years, is a full-time high school student, and who is not self-supporting, until the time the child completes the 12th grade or attains the age of 19 years, whichever occurs first.”

Based on the above, you can see that there are a number of circumstances that could terminate child support, such as the child becoming emancipated or getting married before support would otherwise stop.  A common misconception for those who have not read the statute is that support stops when the child reaches 18.  Now that you have read the statute, it is easy to see that even though a child may be 18 years old, if they are still attending high school full-time, then support would still be due.  If they are 18 years old and in their senior year of high school, you would expect support to be due through the month in which they graduate.

How to Change Your Child Support Order

Posted on by Posted in Child Support, Modifying Child Support

Unlike most orders in an Orange County divorce, such as those dealing with property, child support can change over time.  All it takes is a material change in circumstances to enable you to go back to court to adjust the guideline child support figures.  In this economy, for example, many people have lost their jobs.  Many people would use that event as a reason to go back to court and change the support order.  Other common reasons to change the support order is that the timeshares between the parties has changed significantly since the last order was made.  The two main ingredients of a support calculation are the parties’ respective incomes and their respective timeshares.  If one of the factors changes enough to change the guideline amount, then it may be time to go into court to request a modification of child support.

One common mistake that people make when they experience a material change in circumstance, such as losing their job, is that they make a verbal agreement with the other parent to accept less money.  What happens if the other parent for one reason or another gets mad at you and later says you did not pay the amount ordered by the court?  Guess what?  You still owe the money….PLUS INTEREST!  It is always a good idea to officially change the court-ordered support amount.  If the other parent is actually in agreement with the change, you can write up a stipulation (or hire us to draft it for you), have the parties sign it, and submit it to the court.  When the judge signs the stipulation and files it, then you have a new support order.  In that way, you will not be unpleasantly surprised by the other parent going back on the deal.

If the other parent is not willing to agree to a different order, then you can get the judge to hear your request by filing an order to show cause.  Again, this is one of the services that we offer.  We can draft the paperwork for you.