| Both the mother and the father have a legal responsibility to support their children financially in accordance with their ability to do so. Most jurisdictions have set child support guidelines, which provide a formula for calculating child support grounded on a proportion of each parent's gross income.
During a committed relationship, such issues are seldom a concern for the court. But when parents divorce or cease to live together with their children as a family, the court commonly obliges a non-custodial parent to pay child support to a custodial parent. This issue can be settled by agreement or by fighting it out in court. Like alimony, child maintenance payments, may be included into the divorce judgment or may be decided on in a marital separation agreement. This contested issue can be avoided, providing both the mother and the father determine the proper amount of child support and make this agreement part of an MSA.
Parents' other lawful responsibilities will also be taken into consideration in determining child support. For example, if a parent is paying child support from a previous relationship, the court will take that responsibility into consideration. Necessities of life, including food and rent will also be considered by the court. However, the court will not reduce child support payments to make it easier for the parent to pay discretionary obligations. Unlike alimony, payments of child support cannot be deducted from the payer's income taxes.
To assist the court in determining the appropriate amount of child support, both parties are to prepare a financial declaration. Each parent will be required to completely disclose their income, the nature and extent of their property holdings, including checking accounts, investments and real property and their financial obligations. The court will rely heavily on these documents in making the order and, thus, it is in the children's best interests that the declarations be filled in fully and honestly.
Those who refuse to pay child support will be punished. If the custodial parent makes a lawful claim against the nonpaying parent, he or she may be taken to court. In the United States if the nonpaying parent is found guilty, he or she may be imprisoned. Or, the guilty parent may be sentenced to probation and allowed to remain free if he or she repays all child support and makes all future payments in a timely manner. |
