Child Support Issues & Concerns

Posted by Melisa Dorgan on October 3, 2011 under Family Law | Be the First to Comment

The purpose of paying child support to the other parent seems obvious; however, when discussing child support with the parent who should be receiving it, the parent quite often uses the expression “Well I’m not trying to be greedy” or “I can support my child on my own with

out the other parties’ help” or “I’m not going to ask for child support so the other parent can’t visit with the child.”

However, Arizona Child Support Guidelines state clearly that both parents are required to support their children or child. The monetary amount of the support will be determined by these state guidelines and not by the feelings or intentions of either parent. The child support payments also do not affect custody or visitation.

The issues that are taken into consideration when determining child support are the gross incomes of each parent, whether a parent is paying spousal maintenance or receiving spousal maintenance, whether either parent is supporting another child not common to the parties, insurance premiums that are paid for the child, parenting days exercised by the non-custodial parent, day care expenses paid by a parent on behalf of the child in common to the parties, expenses paid by a parent of an extraordinary child, and educational expenses paid on behalf of an extraordinary child.

After all the information is compiled, it is placed on the Parent’s Worksheet, which lists the incomes of both parents for a total number. This is balanced against the expenses regarding the child and then cross-referenced with a pre-determined chart that has child support amounts. The final amount is divided between the two parents, but will differ based on the income of each parent.

The primary custodial parent typically is assumed to be paying his or her percentage of child support on a day-to-day basis. Therefore the amount of child support required by the non-custodial parent is based on the percentage difference of the total support needed for the child when with the parent who has primary custody.

We know this because the non-custodial parent receives a deduction in the child support calculation for the parenting days that they are exercising with the child. The reason for the deduction in child support for the parenting days is because when the child is visiting the non-custodial parent, that parent is normally feeding, clothing, and housing the child during that time and ultimately is paying to care for the child during that parent’s scheduled visitation.

Melisa Dorgan enjoys writing and discussing family law issues. To get further information about Phoenix divorce or to find a paralegal for Phoenix Child Support, please check out the AZ Statewide Paralegal site now.