| FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Child Support |
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| Meiselman & Helfant, LLC 29 Wood Lane Rockville, Maryland 20850 301-279-8840 Fax 301-279-9630 E-mail: info@mdfamlaw.com |
NOTICE: None of these questions and answers constitute legal
advice. To obtain legal advice, consult with an attorney. This is
especially important in divorce and family law matters, in which
outcomes are often peculiar to the particular facts and
circumstances of the case.
Q. When does child support end?
A. Usually, the obligation to support a child ends when the first of
these milestones is reached: 1) the child reaches age 18 after
graduating or withdrawing from high school, 2) the child graduates
or withdraws from high school after reaching age 18, 3) the child
reaches age 19, 4) the child or the parent paying child support dies.
However, if child support is owed for more than 1 child, as the
obligation ends for each individual child the total amount due will not
change unless a court order is obtained. In addition, child support
can be extended if a child is a "destitute adult child," meaning the
child (1) has no means of subsistence; and (2) cannot be
self-supporting, due to mental or physical infirmity.
Q. How is child support determined?
A. Maryland has adopted child support guidelines. The guidelines are
computed using each parent's "actual income," adjusted for (1)
preexisting child support actually paid, and (2) alimony (deducted
from payor and added to payee). The outcome is affected by certain
expenses which are divided proportionately based on the parties'
incomes: 1) health insurance premiums (if child included), (2)
work-related child care, (3) extraordinary medical expenses, and (4)
additional expenses (which may include: special or private school,
transportation between parents' homes).
Q. What counts as income for computing child support?
A. "Actual income," which is what counts for computing child
support, means income from any source. "Actual income" includes:
(i) Salaries; (ii) Wages; (iii) Commissions; (iv) Bonuses; (v) Dividend
income; (vi) Pension income; (vii) Interest income; (viii) Trust
income; (ix) Annuity income; (x) Social Security benefits; (xi)
Workers' compensation benefits; (xii) Unemployment insurance
benefits; (xiii) Disability insurance benefits; and (xiv) Alimony or
maintenance received. "Actual income" is not limited to these
categories. Read more FAQs about expense reimbursements or
in-kind payments, self-employment income, overtime and other
categories.
Q. Does overtime income count?
A. Money earned by working overtime as a regular part of a parent's
employment constitutes "actual income" for purposes of determining
child support payments, but this additional income cannot be
speculative or uncertain.
Q. What about company-paid cars, business expense
accounts, and other business expenses?
A. Expense reimbursements or in-kind payments received by a
parent in the course of employment, self-employment, or operation
of a business to the extent the reimbursements or payments
reduce the parent's personal living expenses are included in "actual
income."
Q. How is income from self-employment or a small business
figured?
A. For income from self-employment, rent, royalties, proprietorship
of a business, or joint ownership of a partnership or closely held
corporation, "actual income" means gross receipts minus ordinary
and necessary expenses required to produce income.
Q. Are there any other kinds of income which can be included?
A. Based on the circumstances of the case, the court may consider
the following items as actual income: (i) Severance pay; (ii) Capital
gains; (iii) Gifts; or (iv) Prizes. For example, in one case where a
parent had received regular subsidies from his mother for a long
period of time, these subsidies were included in his "actual income."
However, in another case, where a mother's live-in boyfriend paid
toward bills for rent, electricity, cable, telephone service, and trash
removal, the payments were not included in her "actual income."
Q. How are child care expenses determined?
A. Child care expenses are determined based on actual family
experience, unless the court finds that the actual family experience
is not in the child's best interest. If there is no actual family
experience, or the court finds that the actual family experience is
not in the child's best interest, then child care expenses are set at
the lesser of what it would cost to provide quality care from a
licensed source, or the actual cost of care chosen by the custodial
parent.
Q. Is use of the guidelines required?
A. Child support guidelines do not apply when the parents have a
monthly combined adjusted income in excess of $10,000.
Otherwise, the result obtained by applying the guidelines is
presumed to be correct. Departure from results obtained using the
child support guidelines is permitted only when application of the
guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate.
For example, the court may depart from the child support guidelines
to cover the costs of reasonable and necessary educational
programs for an academically challenged or gifted student who
requires remedial tutoring or advanced programming to meet his or
her particular educational needs.
Q. Does the amount of time a child spends with each parent
affect child support?
A. Yes. If a child spends more than 35% of overnights (128
overnights per year) with each parent, special guidelines are used to
compute child support.
Q. Can a parent avoid owing child support by taking a lower
paying job or choosing an alternative lifestyle?
A. A parent who chooses a life of poverty-for example, by taking a
lower paying job-and makes a deliberate choice not to alter that
status is "voluntarily impoverished." Whether the parent decides to
reduce his or her income in order to avoid paying child support or
the parent chooses a frugal lifestyle for another reason doesn't
affect that parent's obligation to the child. A parent must support
his or her child, if the parent has, or reasonably could obtain, the
means to do so. The law requires a parent who is able to do so to
alter his or her chosen lifestyle if necessary to enable the parent to
meet his or her support obligation.
Q. What if the parties' combined income exceeds $10,000?
A. Child support guidelines do not apply when the parents have a
monthly combined adjusted income in excess of $10,000. In this
situation, factors which should be considered when setting child
support include the financial circumstances of the parties, their
station in life, their age and physical condition, and expenses in
educating the children.
Q. Is child support affected by whether the child was born in
or out of wedlock?
A. A child born out of wedlock is entitled to the same level of
support as would be afforded to a child who is the product of a
marriage.
Q. Can child support be computed online?
A. The Maryland Department of Human Resources provides an
online child support worksheet. However, this worksheet is not a
substitute for the advice of an attorney, who can help apply to a
particular case the legal definitions of sole custody or shared
custody, actual income, adjusted actual income, work-related child
care expenses, extra-ordinary medical expenses, and other terms
used in computing child support.
advice. To obtain legal advice, consult with an attorney. This is
especially important in divorce and family law matters, in which
outcomes are often peculiar to the particular facts and
circumstances of the case.
Q. When does child support end?
A. Usually, the obligation to support a child ends when the first of
these milestones is reached: 1) the child reaches age 18 after
graduating or withdrawing from high school, 2) the child graduates
or withdraws from high school after reaching age 18, 3) the child
reaches age 19, 4) the child or the parent paying child support dies.
However, if child support is owed for more than 1 child, as the
obligation ends for each individual child the total amount due will not
change unless a court order is obtained. In addition, child support
can be extended if a child is a "destitute adult child," meaning the
child (1) has no means of subsistence; and (2) cannot be
self-supporting, due to mental or physical infirmity.
Q. How is child support determined?
A. Maryland has adopted child support guidelines. The guidelines are
computed using each parent's "actual income," adjusted for (1)
preexisting child support actually paid, and (2) alimony (deducted
from payor and added to payee). The outcome is affected by certain
expenses which are divided proportionately based on the parties'
incomes: 1) health insurance premiums (if child included), (2)
work-related child care, (3) extraordinary medical expenses, and (4)
additional expenses (which may include: special or private school,
transportation between parents' homes).
Q. What counts as income for computing child support?
A. "Actual income," which is what counts for computing child
support, means income from any source. "Actual income" includes:
(i) Salaries; (ii) Wages; (iii) Commissions; (iv) Bonuses; (v) Dividend
income; (vi) Pension income; (vii) Interest income; (viii) Trust
income; (ix) Annuity income; (x) Social Security benefits; (xi)
Workers' compensation benefits; (xii) Unemployment insurance
benefits; (xiii) Disability insurance benefits; and (xiv) Alimony or
maintenance received. "Actual income" is not limited to these
categories. Read more FAQs about expense reimbursements or
in-kind payments, self-employment income, overtime and other
categories.
Q. Does overtime income count?
A. Money earned by working overtime as a regular part of a parent's
employment constitutes "actual income" for purposes of determining
child support payments, but this additional income cannot be
speculative or uncertain.
Q. What about company-paid cars, business expense
accounts, and other business expenses?
A. Expense reimbursements or in-kind payments received by a
parent in the course of employment, self-employment, or operation
of a business to the extent the reimbursements or payments
reduce the parent's personal living expenses are included in "actual
income."
Q. How is income from self-employment or a small business
figured?
A. For income from self-employment, rent, royalties, proprietorship
of a business, or joint ownership of a partnership or closely held
corporation, "actual income" means gross receipts minus ordinary
and necessary expenses required to produce income.
Q. Are there any other kinds of income which can be included?
A. Based on the circumstances of the case, the court may consider
the following items as actual income: (i) Severance pay; (ii) Capital
gains; (iii) Gifts; or (iv) Prizes. For example, in one case where a
parent had received regular subsidies from his mother for a long
period of time, these subsidies were included in his "actual income."
However, in another case, where a mother's live-in boyfriend paid
toward bills for rent, electricity, cable, telephone service, and trash
removal, the payments were not included in her "actual income."
Q. How are child care expenses determined?
A. Child care expenses are determined based on actual family
experience, unless the court finds that the actual family experience
is not in the child's best interest. If there is no actual family
experience, or the court finds that the actual family experience is
not in the child's best interest, then child care expenses are set at
the lesser of what it would cost to provide quality care from a
licensed source, or the actual cost of care chosen by the custodial
parent.
Q. Is use of the guidelines required?
A. Child support guidelines do not apply when the parents have a
monthly combined adjusted income in excess of $10,000.
Otherwise, the result obtained by applying the guidelines is
presumed to be correct. Departure from results obtained using the
child support guidelines is permitted only when application of the
guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate.
For example, the court may depart from the child support guidelines
to cover the costs of reasonable and necessary educational
programs for an academically challenged or gifted student who
requires remedial tutoring or advanced programming to meet his or
her particular educational needs.
Q. Does the amount of time a child spends with each parent
affect child support?
A. Yes. If a child spends more than 35% of overnights (128
overnights per year) with each parent, special guidelines are used to
compute child support.
Q. Can a parent avoid owing child support by taking a lower
paying job or choosing an alternative lifestyle?
A. A parent who chooses a life of poverty-for example, by taking a
lower paying job-and makes a deliberate choice not to alter that
status is "voluntarily impoverished." Whether the parent decides to
reduce his or her income in order to avoid paying child support or
the parent chooses a frugal lifestyle for another reason doesn't
affect that parent's obligation to the child. A parent must support
his or her child, if the parent has, or reasonably could obtain, the
means to do so. The law requires a parent who is able to do so to
alter his or her chosen lifestyle if necessary to enable the parent to
meet his or her support obligation.
Q. What if the parties' combined income exceeds $10,000?
A. Child support guidelines do not apply when the parents have a
monthly combined adjusted income in excess of $10,000. In this
situation, factors which should be considered when setting child
support include the financial circumstances of the parties, their
station in life, their age and physical condition, and expenses in
educating the children.
Q. Is child support affected by whether the child was born in
or out of wedlock?
A. A child born out of wedlock is entitled to the same level of
support as would be afforded to a child who is the product of a
marriage.
Q. Can child support be computed online?
A. The Maryland Department of Human Resources provides an
online child support worksheet. However, this worksheet is not a
substitute for the advice of an attorney, who can help apply to a
particular case the legal definitions of sole custody or shared
custody, actual income, adjusted actual income, work-related child
care expenses, extra-ordinary medical expenses, and other terms
used in computing child support.
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 |
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 |
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| Contact Meiselman & Helfant, LLC Today Call 301-279-8840 |
| Meiselman & Helfant, LLC |
29 Wood Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20850
| Call 301-279-8840 |
| Serving Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Kensington, Potomac, Rockville, Silver Spring, Wheaton, Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Frederick County, and Howard County. |
