What is Child Support?
Child support is a means of financial restitution in which a non-custodial parent can contribute to the expenses of raising children produced by a marriage.
With regard to Family Law Court, Child support mandates are undertaken with regard to jurisdictional family law legislation; as a result, the amount of payment is determined by a variety of social, economic, and professional factors - a child support payment is monies paid by the non-custodial parent to the parent acting as the primary care custodian – or the custodial parent.
The custodial parent is the parent who is considered to be the legal guardian of the child
The non-custodial parent is typically the parent who is responsible for making child support payments to the custodial parent; child support guidelines typically classify the non-custodial parents as not have primary guardianship with regard to any child in question
The Basics of Child Support Guidelines
Child Support Guidelines utilized in the determination process of payments mandated by a presiding court – or additional child support agency - are considered to be the legislative classification in accordance to financial restitution required as a result of the satisfaction of child support payments. The Child Support Guidelinesfor payments are typically determined with regard to a variety of quantification measures:
Income
Child Support Guidelines will typically involve the assessment of the gross amount of income earned by both parents – custodial and non-custodial. Child Support Guidelinesundertaken to provide the determination of child support payments factor in the legality that parents maintain the right to life and earnings that allow for their respective needs to be met. Portioned income is allotted for the child support payment, which is calculated by the jurisdictional judicial body.
Custodial Responsibility
The custodial responsibility – parental, as well as financial – expressed within Child Support Guidelines is factored into the determination of a child support payment on the part of the responsible parent. In the event that the parental role that one parent has well-outweighs the other parent’s role, the magnitude of responsibility is taken into consideration upon factoring child support; typically, the higher the degree of parental responsibility will be corollary to the required payments.
Children Involved
Child Support Guidelinescalculate and substantiate the number of the children that have been produced as a result of a marriage; all financial recourse and expenses are subject to undergo review, as well.
Established Paternity
In the event that the child lives with one parent, the other parent is required to pay child support payments. In the event that a child shares residence with both parents, child support guidelines set forth arrangements reflecting child support payments proportional to the amount of time in which the residence is shared by specific parent and child.
Using Child Support Calculators
A child support calculator is a mathematical tool that provides users with approximate estimations in regard to prospective payments expressed in applicable child support guidelines. Although child support calculators can be valuable tools while investigating and researching potential child support payments, they are neither considered to be definitive nor finalized in terms of their respective calculation.
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