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How Figure out CS?

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  • How Figure out CS?

    Ok, so, Bob and Marg have had a private agreement for the past three years (2004, 05, 06). (they share custody of their kids 50/50) He pays all the childcare fees in a year and no child support. Then, in May of the following year, they share their incomes for that past year, figure out how much child support was owed/vs. childcare costs, and reconcile between them. Now this May, he suddenly decides that instead of last years incomes (07), he's going to use the year before's (06 again). He states this is because the federal guidlelines say you pay child support for any year, based on your previous years salaries. Is this true? Does this "federal guideline" supercede any private agreements? (Bob and Margaret have no court orders for support)

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    The federal guidelines are just guidelines so they don't take precedence of anything, but they are the starting point for what should be paid if you went to court, and should be used if there are no extenuating circumstances. The tables are a simple way to do things, though you still have to track 'special expenses' which can include day care, and should include medical, dental, and other bigger ticket things and things that have nothing to do with which house the kid is in at the time (camp, sport equipment etc). Those special expenses should be paid above and beyond the table values and are paid relative to what you make (ie if one makes twice as much as the other, they pay 2/3 the cost of these things).

    For 50/50 custody you generally look up your individual income in the table and the number of kids, and the same for the spouse, subtract the difference and that is how much the greater earning spouse pays. This method takes into account that having 2 houses for the kids is more expensive than 1. This is called the 'set off' method.

    As for what income to use, you are supposed to use your income as reported to the government so generally you should adjust how much you pay yearly after you submit your tax returns, or when you get your assement back, so June 1st is when I do my adjustment. So I pay my CS based on the previous years income, adjusted in June.

    I know someone that will estimate their income and do CS that way, but when they get their assesment in June, they actually figure out what they should have been paying and reconcile then, but we decided to just adjust payments forward, which essentially works out the same.

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