Does The Court Consider A High Cost Of Living During Child Support?
The court always looks for what amount could be appropriate for the best lifestyle of the children; this has to be based on the supporting parent’s income. Every state has its own guidelines to determine the suitable level of child support. But since child support rules vary according to province or territory, both spouses should get help from family law lawyers, Brampton.
High Cost Of Living And Child Support
If you are a parent paying child support, the court will look at your gross income from all sources. But if your child support is being affected by your high cost of living either due to other children, or other deductibles, the issue can be addressed through the change of circumstance. But, the court can only change child custody orders when they believe the change of circumstances to be just and equitable. Where child support seems to be affected by the high cost of living, judges are prone to deviate from the set guidelines where the paying parent:
- Has exceptionally high or low income
- Have many unreimbursed expenses such as medical expenses
- Have kids with special needs such as disabled children
- He/she is upgrading their professional career and has education expenses
The court will look at many more factors to determine how you high costs of living may affect child support. For instance, you may have taken a loan to buy a leisure car; definitely, the court will not be inclined to lower your child support under such obligations.
What Determines Child Support?
It not uncommon for some parents to lower their income levels to lure the court to decrease child support obligations. In such cases, where a parent may have left employment willfully or is underemployed, the court imputes an income. Where such reasons are unjustifiable, such a parent will have to pay for child support. Typically, the child support amount is based on:
- The income of the parent paying support
- The number of children needing support
If the judge is satisfied that your high cost of living will affect child support, this can be modified. However, the judge must first decide whether such costs affect the support being accorded to the child. And if such cost seems to interfere with how such a parent spends time or communicate with their child, then both parents can agree to modify the terms of child support. Where it’s impossible to agree, then one parent may be forced to file a motion and request the judge for such a change. Again for the modification to take effect, one must prove the change of circumstances.
According to Federal child support guidelines, there is a set of rules and tables used to determine what parents should contribute to their child support. These are set to ensure children can advance their best interest and get the required level of support from both parents. But such tables provide flexibility to special expenses such as exceptionally high income or daycare expenses, among others.
