Calculating Child Support
When a couple gets divorced with children, one of the parents is ordered by the courts to pay child support. There are a variety of different factors the courts will look at when calculating child support payments. An experienced Buffalo child support lawyer will be able to negotiate a fair deal that also keeps your children’s best interests in mind. Here is what you should know.
Calculating Child Support | What is Child Support?
Child support refers to the financial support a noncustodial parent will pay to the custodial parent to help with the financial cost of raising a child until the child is 21 years of age. The noncustodial parent is the parent who has less than 50% of the physical custody of the child. If both parents have 50% physical custody, then the court will decide who the noncustodial parent is for the purposes of deciding who pays child support. This is usually the parent who earns the most money.
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Calculating Child Support | Determining Factors
New York has a specific law, called the Child Support Standards Act, that calculates the basic amount of child support. The formula will calculate the noncustodial parent’s child support payment by adding up the incomes of both parents, multiplying that amount by a certain percentage based on the number of children to be supported, then prorate that value based on the percentage of each parent’s income. The final result will be how much the noncustodial parent is supposed to pay in child support for the year.
The following is the percentage value based on the number of children to be supported:
- One child = 17%
- Two children = 25%
- Three children = 29%
- Four children = 31%
- Five or more children = at least 35%
Calculating Child Support | Contact a Lawyer
If you are facing difficulties with child support, it is extremely important to speak with one of our Buffalo child support lawyers for experienced representation. Cole, Sorrentino, Hurley, Hewner & Gambino, P.C. are dedicated to helping clients in these situations and have four convenient offices to make meeting our Buffalo child support lawyers even easier.