Article Details
Parents: Child Support Payments |
| Date Added: July 04, 2010 07:52:35 PM |
| Author: elkla89 |
| Category: Arts & Humanities: Chats and Forums |
| Both the mother and the father have a lawful obligation to support their children financially in accordance with their ability to do so. Most jurisdictions have set child support standards, which provide a formula for calculating child maintenance grounded on a proportion of gross income earned by each parent. Such issues are seldom a concern for the court when parents are bound by marriage or committed relationship. But when parents separate or no longer live together with their children as a family, a non-custodial parent is obliged to pay child support to a custodial parent. This issue can be settled by agreement or by arguing about it in front of a judge. Child support payments, like alimony, may be incorporated into the divorce judgment or may be provided for in a marital separation agreement. This contested issue can be avoided, provided that both parents decide on the appropriate amount of child support and make this agreement part of an MSA. Parents' other legal responsibilities will also be taken into consideration in deciding on child maintenance. For example, if the non-custodial parent is paying child maintenance from a previous relationship, it will be taken into consideration. Life necessities, including rent and food will also be taken into account by the judge. Still, child support payments will not be decreased to make it easier for the parent to make discretionary payments. Unlike alimony, child maintenance payments cannot be deducted from the parent's income taxes. For the court to establish the proper sum of child maintenance, both parents will be required by the court to complete a financial declaration. Each parent will be required to provide full information about their income, the nature and extent of their property holdings, such as current accounts, investments and real property and their financial obligations. These documents will be heavily rested upon by the court in making the order and, therefore, it is in the children's best interests that the declarations be filled in fully and honestly. Parents who deliberately avoid paying child support will be punished. If the custodial parent lodges a complaint to the district attorney's office, the nonpaying parent can be taken to court |
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