Parents have an obligation to provide for their children financially, regardless of their custody arrangement. To ensure this happens, the State of Connecticut has established Child Support Guidelines. If you are considering divorce and have minor children, turn to The Law Office and Mediation Center of Jeannine M. Talbot in Torrington, CT, for quality representation during your custody proceedings. Below, this seasoned divorce lawyer explains how family court judges calculate child support orders.

The State of Connecticut relies on the Income Shares Model to determine child support. Under this model, judges consider the income of both parents. While the noncustodial parent generally pays child support to the custodial parent, the court can use its discretion to go outside the established guidelines when determining a financial arrangement.

When calculating child support, the court starts by considering the net weekly income of both parents.The court refers to the State’s chart regarding a parent’s financial obligations. According to the chart, two children should receive $561 per week from both parents in a family that earns $2,500 per week. The parent earning $1,500 per week would be responsible for covering 60% of this amount, or $337.

The court then assesses each parent’s contribution to determine the percentage of financial support they are responsible for covering for child care and un-reimbursed medical, dental, etc. expenses..  So in the example above,  one parent earns $1,500 per week and the other parent earns $1,000 per week for a total of $2,500, the parent receiving the child support of $337 now has approximately 53% of the income and would have to cover approximately 53% of the childcare costs, out of pocket medical, dental, etc. costs—because they earn 53% of the collective weekly income.  The parent paying the child support would also be responsible for approximately 47% of these costs.

Although these calculations seem fairly simple, there are additional factors that can affect the total, such as which parent has custody, and who provides health insurance. To learn more about calculating child support under family law, turn to The Law Office and Mediation Center of Jeannine M. Talbot in Torrington, CT. Call (860) 482-9004 to talk to a divorce lawyer about your situation today.