You have likely thought about your children when going through a divorce or break-up. It is a widespread belief that child support goes directly to the child caretaker, but child support is not their parents but their children’s right. In most states, child support continues until the child turns 18 or graduates high school, but in some states, child support continues till college. The Milwaukee family law will help determine your child support when you divorce.
How is child support determined?
There are various ways to determine child support mentioned below.
- Income
Each parent’s income is the first and most crucial factor in determining child support. When child support is determined, the parents need to submit the following documents:
- Paystubs which show the hourly rate or salary, tax exemptions, and hours worked
- Most recent W-2 tax document
- Other income documents include wages, gratuities, overtime pay, rental income, commissions, bonuses, etc.
- Overnight visits
The number of visits with each parent helps calculate the child support formulae. The point of this formula is to give credit to each parent for when they were responsible for the child in financial matters. Taking an example, if one parent tasks sole care and legal custody of the child and while the other parent visits only once a week to meet the child, the court will allocate the proper support to each custodial parent.
- Dependents
The dependency information will be asked from each parent from the court while divorcing to calculate the child support. If one parent has one child and can legally support the other child, the court will consider this for the outcome of any child support case.
- Child care expense
Child support is one of the most expensive features of raising children today. A full-time daycare can cost you around $10,000- $15,000 annually in many states. If one parent handles the cost of child care annually, the court will add the paying parent in the formulae.
- Health care costs
The parent who pays the healthcare cost for the child will always receive the credit in the child formulae for the money paid for the child’s insurance. However, the parent has to provide evidence of the amount they spend each month on the healthcare to the court in order to consider this in the formulae.
- Other deductions
If any parent pays for child support or spousal support for other children, the court will also consider this information in the formulae when determining the final number.