There are many different aspects of their children’s lives that they need to provide for as they raise them. This includes providing for their emotional well-being, education, discipline and for their financial needs as well. Parents need to provide a place to live, food and clothing at a very basic level. However, as parents know though there are many other expenses that parents pay for as well. There are healthcare costs, activity costs, school costs and many others.
Parents are required to provide for these expenses and this is true whether the parents are married of divorced. How parents pay for these expenses may vary depending on whether the parents are married or divorced though. If parents are married the expenses may be paid from joint bank accounts, but when they are divorced they may be provided for, in part, through child support orders. These orders require one parent to pay the other money each month to provide for their needs.
Determining child support amounts
The amount that the parent will pay depends on a few different factors. One is the parents’ net income. Their net income is the amount they earn from all sources minus the taxes they pay, union dues and money they pay for monthly health insurance premiums. The other major factor is the amount of children that the parents have together. The basic guidelines state that parents pay a percentage of their net income based on the number of children. They will pay 20% of their net income if they have one child, 25% if they have two, 30% if they have three children and it goes up from there.
There are many parents who are divorced. When this occurs parents will need to determine how much time the children will spend with each parent and also how they will continue to provide for their children’s needs through child support. The basic guidelines may seem fairly straight forward, but child support calculations can be complicated depending on the circumstances. Experienced attorneys understand the child support laws and may be a useful resource.
