Before diving into the child support worksheet, which the court refers to as the Form 14, we have to determine who is the paying parent. You can read my previous article here: Who Pays? Once which parent is likely to receive support is determined, I start working through the form itself line by line.
Determining the Incomes of Parents
The first line on the Form 14 is the monthly gross income for each parent. Gross income is the amount earned before taxes and withholdings are taken out of the pay. Why is the gross income and not the net income used? There are plenty of scenarios where a parent can significantly reduce their net income significantly from their gross income for tax purposes or otherwise, especially when a parent is self-employed or a contracted worker. Putting money aside or hiding income to reduce a support obligation is not fair for the kids and the state legislators have attempted to curb this intentional lowering of income from happening.
What Counts as Income?
To start figuring out an amount for Line 1, you look at base pay, benefits, and other relevant monies received, such as TANF, disability, retirement, annuities, etc. The best starting point is always with the base pay. If a parent is salaried, we take the annual salary and divide by 12 to the monthly gross income. Otherwise, we multiply the hourly wage by 40 hours for one week of pay then multiply again by 52 weeks of the year for annual pay. This covers paid holidays and vacation time. Then you divide by 12 to get monthly gross base pay. Now you can look towards other benefits. It is not uncommon for parents to work overtime or get regular bonuses. Some parents get significant benefits paid for by their employer, such as assistance with cell phone bills, company car, etc. This is included as income to the parent. Some parents receive disability through Social Security of Veterans Affairs, and it is included as income in addition to their salaries or hourly wages. Some parents have dividends from stocks and that is also included in their incomes. Figuring out income of parents is why it is so important to fill out income and expense statements and exchange taxes and other financial information. Attorneys, judges, mediators, or anyone else involved need accurate financial information to help figure out the appropriate gross monthly income of the parents.
There is one subpart to Line 1 and it is specifically for parents going through a divorce. Line 1a is maintenance. This is only for the pending matter and is supposed to be determined before child support. If maintenance is being ordered, it reduces the amount of income from the person paying maintenance and gives it to the person receiving maintenance regardless of who is paying or receiving child support. If a parent is receiving maintenance outside of the current proceeding that needs child support calculated, it is considered on Line 1 and not Line 1a.
Another important note about determining income is that the court can impute income to a parent who is intentionally underemployed or currently unemployed. Typically, the court imputes minimum wage to someone who is not currently employed or does not have a significant work history. However, quitting your desk job with a decent annual salary and benefits to start a business or become a slightly above minimum wage yoga instructor is not going to get you out of paying child support. The court will be able to see that you’re capable of earning a higher wage based on past taxes and earning history. There are always exceptions, though, and you should talk with an attorney before making a drastic switch in careers when child support is at issue.
However, the legal system not blind to parents with low incomes. There is a section of the table that reduces child support if you are under a certain income threshold. It is possible that when both parents are low earners, the presumed amount of support will be too low to warrant an order and no support will be ordered to either parent.
Adjustments to Gross Income
The next few lines on the Form 14 are Line 2 and its subparts. This part of the form is specifically for adjustments to gross income. Primarily, it is for consideration of children not part of the current case or “not subject to the proceeding.” Many parents have children from previous relationships. Attorneys often refer to them as other children not in a demeaning way but to denote between the children in the home who are and are not part of the current case.
The first two subparts to Line 2 are straight forward. Line 2a is for parents who are ordered to pay child support. Line 2b is for parents who are ordered to pay maintenance to another person not part of the proceeding. Both of these lines are a straight deduction to the gross income of the paying parent.
Now we look at Line 2c. This section is about other children in the home. It is broken down into parts to help as follows: (1) how many other children live with a parent, (2) how much of a parent’s Line 1 gross income is attributable to the other children’s support, and (3) how much support is received for the other children. How does this play out? Parents who have at least one other child primarily living with them get a reduction in their income based on how much their gross income is in Line 1 and how many other children primarily residing with them. Once that deduction is determined, then the amount of support received, if any, is added back to the income. The deduction amount is determined using the same table for Line 5 (which is discussed in the very next section). If the amount of child support a parent receives for a child outside of the proceeding exceeds the credit they get, that amount is not added to their income.
Keep in mind that parents only get a deduction for children primarily residing with them. This does not include stepchildren, and some judges may not count children whose parents have shared custody when no child custody ordered is established.
Let’s look at an example for adjustments for other children in the home to help those like me who need to do the work to understand it: A parent earns $3000.00 gross per month and receives $200.00 per month in child support for one child not subject to the proceeding who lives with him or her. Their income is reduced by $567.00 for the child living with them and then the ordered amount of $200.00 is added back into their income. So overall, that parent’s adjusted gross income comes out to be $2633.00 instead of $3000.00. The amount of $567.00 is based upon a table or chart that is followed for Line 5.
Now that leads us to the adjusted gross income totals for the parents. You subtract Lines 1a, 2a, 2b, and 2c from Line 1 and the result is a parent’s adjusted gross income which is put in Line 3. Line includes each individual parent’s income and their combined income. This is so the court can see each parent’s proportional share of the combined income on Line 4. Line 4 is often used in helping to determine if someone needs to pay more than half of shared future expenses that cannot be included in the worksheet. Line 4 is something that you will want to talk with an attorney about, especially if one parent earns significantly more.
Base Amount of Support Ordered
After determining the adjusted gross income of parents on Line 3, the Form 14 has us put the base amount of support before adding the children’s expenses, which is seen on Line 5. This is the total that is used as if both parents resided together using their shared income. The court follows a chart or table determining how much of the combined gross income is attributable to child support based on how many kids are involved in the calculation. If the parents have two children together and each have one separate, the table only takes into consideration the two children involved in this proceeding. The adjustments for the other children were already given in Line 2 and its subparts.
Once the base amount of support is pulled from the table, the next lines on the form start inserting expenses and credits for things paid by the parents. Whether or not extra expenses should be added to the Form 14 depend on how well parents get along or the ease of paying the expenses. The default is to include everything on the worksheet under who is paying which expense. Some parents prefer that their child’s dance lessons get paid outside of child support and each parent agree to pay the studio directly. Some parents prefer that one parent be responsible for paying the studio and the other parent will pay their share though child support. There is no wrong answer here on how to make sure the studio gets paid. However, read the next couple articles about additional expenses and modifications when they’re published to understand what may or may not be better for you or your family.