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Child and Spousal Support
Parental Duties
A parent's first and principal obligation is to support his/her minor children. A parent will pay the court-ordered child support payment as the first priority before payment of any debts owed to creditors. (Fam.Code, §§ 4011.) You can be sent to jail, fined, and/or ordered to perform community service for willful refusal to pay court ordered child support.
However, the nonpayment of support does not provide a basis for refusing to let the delinquent parent have access to the child; nor does the refusal to allow access to the child provide an excuse for not paying support. (Fam.Code, §§ 3556.) Each parent has an equal responsibility to support the child. (Fam.Code, §§ 3900.)
Amount
The amount of child support is required by law to be determined under a statewide uniform child support guideline. (Fam.Code, §§ 4052; Fam.Code, §§ 4055.)
The guideline considers each parent's actual income or earning capacity and the amount of time each parent has the child in his or her care(Fam.Code, §§ 4053.)
The formula is based on net income as defined in the guideline law. The court is required to determine net income as it would be shown after filing a tax return and not as it is shown in the parents' paychecks. (Fam.Code, §§ 4059.) Therefore, it is usually not possible to determine the exact amount of child support unless you have access to one of the state-approved computer software programs specifically designed for the calculation of child support.
The court will allow a deduction for the amount of child support you are ordered to pay and are actually paying for another child. (Fam.Code, §§ 4059.)
The court may allow deductions from net income for extreme financial hardship due to justifiable expenses, such as, extraordinary health expenses, uninsured catastrophic losses, and minimum basic living expenses of natural or adopted children who reside with the parent. (Fam.Code, §§ 4059; Fam.Code, §§§§ 4070-4073.) You must be prepared to prove the actual amounts spent for any hardship allowance you are seeking.
No hardship allowance is made for your step-children even if yours is the only income that is supporting them (Fam.Code, §§ 4071)
Courts are required to add to basic child support payments (Fam.Code, §§ 4062) the costs for childcare related to work or reasonable and necessary education/training and reasonable uninsured health care costs for the children. Additionallly, the court has discretion to add to basic child support payments costs for educational or other special needs of the children and travel expenses for visitation.
The court must also order health insurance to be maintained by either or both parents if the insurance is available at no cost or at reasonable cost compared to your income. (Fam.Code, §§ 3751.)
The court will also order health care costs that are not reimbursed by health insurance to be shared between the parents under Family Code §§ 4063 in a manner that is described in detail in the Judicial Council's Notice of Rights and Responsibilities (Form 1285.78).
Duration of Child Support
Support continues until age 18 if the child is no longer attending high school as a full time student, until age 19 while still in high school full time, until completion of 12th grade while older than 18 but younger than 19, or if the child marries or becomes self-supporting (emancipated) before reaching the age of majority. If your earnings are being taken by a wage assignment for the support of your child, it does not automatically stop when a child attains the age of majority. You must obtain a court order to stop the wages from being automatically paid to the other parent. The easiest way is for you and the other parent to file a written agreement to terminate child support. If the parent who is receiving support will not sign such an agreement, you must serve and file an Order to Show Cause to terminate child support and vacate the wage assignment order.
Spousal Support
Spousal support is defined as payment from one spouse to another that is awarded for the other spouse's support pending a divorce/legal separation, as well as after completion of the divorce / legal separation proceedings. Spousal support is also commonly referred to as "alimony."
Either spouse may be ordered to pay spousal support to the other. If the wife is the homemaker and primary caretaker of the children, then the husband will be responsible for spousal support payments. However, the reverse may also be true.
In awarding permanent spousal support, the Judge must consider many factors, such as: each party's income and earnings; earning capacity; age and health of the parties; obligations and assets of each party; duration of the marriage; needs of each party based on the standard of living established during the marriage, etc
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