Guidelines for California Child Support During Divorce

california child support guidelines can be used to determine an estimate of the amount of child support that the Court Commissioner or Family Law Judge has the authority to order in your case. The formula is very complicated. Basically it takes into consideration each parent’s income, the time the child spends with each parent and tax deductions that may be available to the parents. This formula is used whenever child support needs to be determined in divorce cases, paternity cases and domestic partner cases.

The guidelines were established to provide a fair, just and sufficient amount of child support to cover children in the state based upon the standard of living and costs of raising children in the State of California. The standardized guidelines may be deviated under special needs situations. The California Statewide Child Support Guidelines can be found in the California Family Code starting at Section 4050.

The court prefers that the parties agree to child support, spousal support, parental rights and property division without having the court intervene. However, in a majority of the cases, the parties are not able to agree, may not be speaking to each other and require the assistance of an attorney or the court to help them come to a decision. You should consult with a family law attorney regarding child support and other divorce issues.

Calculations

The formula used to calculate the approximate amount of child support under the California child support guidelines is as follows: CS = K (HN - (H %) (TN)). You will probably need special software to do the calculations. You should contact the court or your attorney to obtain more information about the software. Here is a breakdown on the formula to help you understand how the calculations work:

CS = child support amount
K = Parents’ income. This amount equals one plus H% (if H% is less than or equal to 50%) or two plus H% (if H% is greater than 50%) times the following fractions:
Total Net Disposable
             Income Per Month                                     K
             $0-800                                                     0.20 + TN /16,000
             $801-6,666                                               0.25
             $6,667-10,000                                          0.10 + 1,000/TN
             Over $10,000                                            0.12 + 800/TN

[Example, H% equals 20 percent, the parents’ total monthly net
disposable income is $1,000, K = (1 + 0.20) X 0.25, or
0.30.

HN=The higher earner’s net monthly disposable income
H% = Average amount of time the highest earner will spend with the child
TN = Both parents’ total net monthly disposable income (the formula to compute the net disposable income can be found in Section 4059 of the California Family Code).

If there is more than one child, then simply multiply the CS using the following calculations:

             2 children               1.6
             3 children               2
             4 children               2.3
             5 children               2.5
             6 children               2.625
             7 children               2.75
             8 children               2.813
             9 children               2.844
             10 children               2.86

The Judge or Commissioner will ultimately decide the amount of child support if the parties cannot agree by considering the following:

Gross income of parents
Time spent with each parent
Tax deductions available to parents
Payroll deductions
Costs of child care incurred by parents
Health and dental insurance
Special needs of the child, including special medical costs or educational costs

There are also discretionary amounts that may be added such as travel expenses for visitations. These expenses are generally equally shared by the parents, unless one parent does not work or has substantially lower income. Other factors that are taken into consideration are whether one spouse is paying the other spousal support.

Hire an Attorney

Child support matters are complex. It is recommended that you hire a California family law attorney to help with child support, child custody, child visitation, spousal support, property division and other family law matters.

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