Does anyone know what they base child support on in California?

Question

My husband was divorced about 5 years ago, and now his ex-wife is pressuring him to give her more child support for their 2 children. She is remarried and was allowed to stay in a house with a lot of equity, that he basically gave to her. We have been consistently giving her as much as we possibly can, but rents are high in California and we had to get rid of a car in order to make it. She says if they go to court they will take your rent, income, debt and other expenses into consideration. Is that true, because I went on one of those calculators and it said we would have to pay $1350.00 per month, and we just can't afford that. Any advice on how to keep the courts out of it, or what should we expect.

Answer 1

What percentage of time does your husband have the kids? If none at all they will take 40% approximately of his income. They cannot take more than 50% of the net income on any of his paychecks. On the bonus side they do NOT count your income as his spouse because they are not your biological kids. Having 50/50 custody does not mean you will not have to pay anything . Payments are based on % of time kids spend with each parent and each parent's income. The ex does not have to count her new husband's income either. Your local child support agency can do all your paperwork etc. for free sparing you the cost of a lawyer but they do not deal with custody issues. They will have you fill out an income and expense form however listing all your monthly expenses. They only take a few of these expense into consideration though. Mostly spousal support payments, child support payments, required retirement contributions and union dues, possibly medical payments if you have special circumstances. If you can agree with the ex to an amount less than what you calculated have a legal agreement drawn up for it. Submit to the local court to make it a court order. If it's just a mediation aggreement then either party can end it at will. Good Luck!

Answer 2

Pursuant to California Family Code Section 4058 gross income for child support purposes is defined as "Income such as commissions, salaries, royalities, wages, bonuses, rents, dividends, pensions, interest, turst income, annuities, workers compensation, disability insurance benefits, social security benefits, spousal suport actually received..."

Aside from gross income, the next factor the court's take into consideration is the time-share re: visitation.

Contrary to other answers here, the courts DO commonly take into consideration the income of the new obligee and/or obligor spouse. Under California Family Code Section 4057.5 the court is precluded from considering new spouse INCOME absent "extraordinary circumstances." However, the income is not looked as for what you would normally think as "income" purposes but instead for TAX purposes. See County of Tulare vs. Cambell 50 Cal.App. 4th 847; Marriagae of Carlsen, 50 Cal. App. 4th 212 the court held in these two cases that "for purposes of determing the support obligee's Section 4059(a) tax rate in order to calculate the obligee's net disposable income, the court may properly take into consideration the income of the obligee's new spouse." The Carlsen case deals with the "obligors" new spouse.

In other words, when you remarry and your spouse has an income it does not effect your disposable income for child support purposes except on a TAX BASIS. This can be substantial. In fact, including new spouse income for those paying child support often DECREASES child support as it is then calculated in a higher tax bracket. For those with a working knowledge of dissomaster and Xspouse it is not as simple as just putting in Joint Filing Married under the tax information - you MUST also include that new spouse's income so the computer program takes all factors into consideration.

In California "guidline" child support is presumed to be the correct amount under California Family Code Section 4053. Guideline child support is calculated using a sophisticated child support program, either Dissomaster or Xspouse.

Monthly expenses CAN be considered by the court and so can what are called "hardship deductions". These include Extraordinary health expenses, uninsured catastrophic losses, job related expenses, other child support or spousal support paid and/or collected, retirement benefits (if mandatory), union dues, etc. See California Family Code Section 4059; See also California Family Code Section 4071.

Pursuant to California Family Code section 4053 and 4057 "guideline" and/or "presumptive" child support CAN be rebutted by evidence showing that application would be unjust or inappropriate. The court HAS the authority to veer from guideline child support and occassionaly does.

hope this helps

Answer 3

Most states do not give a hoot what your expenses are and are willing to take up to 45% of your gross income,. Get a lawyer and file for joint custody each getting 50% of the time, then you do not have to pay anything

Answer 4

WELL IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH YOU MAKE...... SAY IF YOU MAKE LIKE 1000 A WEEK THEY WILL TAKE LIKE 300 FROM YOUR CHECK.... AND IF YOU MAKE MORE THEY WILL TAKE EVEN MORE....... TRY WORKING THINGS OUT WITH HER FIRST.... HAVE AN AGREEMENT WITH HER AND THEN TRY CHILD SUPPORT.......