Child Support Lawyer
Compassionate and Experienced Child Support Lawyer Ready to Advocate for You
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Frequently Asked Questions About Child Support
Does a child support award also include expenses for extracurricular activities and educational expenses?
No, these expenses are typically paid for by the custodial parent, and the court will not order child support and payment toward these expenses. It is contemplated that child support will allay some of these expenses. However, nothing prohibits parents from agreeing to divide these costs by written agreement.
What income is considered in setting up child support?
All income is to be considered in setting up child support. This may include bonuses, social security income, VA disability, commissions, and the like. Even if a parent is not reporting all income on his or her tax return, if it is proven that there is additional income that a parent receives, this could be countable as income in calculating child support.
Can a court set child support to something other than what the child support guidelines requires?
Yes, if both parties’ gross monthly incomes exceed $40,000, the Court, in its discretion, can order child support to be something other than what the guidelines require. The Court must set forth specific findings in its Order in doing so.
What Does a Child Support Lawyer Do?
When contemplating separation or even divorce, many people worry about how much child support they will receive or be required to pay, or how they will financially afford to live without their spouse or the parent of their child.
You are entitled to child support from the biological parent or adoptive parent of your child so long as your child is not emancipated under South Carolina law. Emancipation means that your child is the later of age 18 or having graduated from high school.
Child support is reserved for parents, whether married or not, who no longer reside together. A request for child support is typically made in any contested or uncontested case. Part of our work is to ensure all gross income of the opposing party is known in determining an appropriate child support award.
Understanding Child Support Laws
Child support is calculated using a child support calculator formulated in accordance with South Carolina Regulations. It is calculated based upon both parents’ gross monthly incomes, how many children there are of the relationship to be supported, the number of overnights per year the noncustodial parent receives, which parent pays for your child’s health insurance coverage and the monthly amount, and who pays the child’s work-related daycare expenses and the amount. Credits are also given for other dependent children in the home who are not of your relationship, or if either parent pays support by court order for another child.
If your child has significant medical expenses associated with a health condition or disease, the monthly amount of these expenses can be considered in the “extraordinary expense” section in the calculation.
Once the above numbers are entered into the child support calculator, a child support number is determined that the noncustodial parent will be required to pay. Our courts frequently follow child support guidelines in determining a child support award.
In addition to the child support award, an additional component of support is uncovered medical expenses for the children. These include not only standard medical expenses that are paid out of pocket and not covered by insurance, but also dental, prescription, vision, orthodontia and related healthcare costs. The noncustodial parent would be liable for his or her pro rata portion of these uncovered healthcare costs based upon the ratio of the parties’ gross monthly incomes. The pro rata share is determined by using the noncustodial parent’s gross monthly income and dividing that number by the total gross monthly incomes of both parents, multiplied by 100 to get the percentage for which the noncustodial parent is liable.
Child support does not include extracurricular activity expenses, private school expenses, or tuition payments for a private school. In other words, if you are the custodial parent, you are generally solely responsible for these costs with some caveats. For instance, if your children have historically attended private school and upon separation, each party is still capable of paying for private school tuition, the court will generally order that the children remain in private school and set each party’s contribution levels for private school.
How Child Support Is Calculated
Generally, the Family Court follows the Child Support Guidelines in setting child support. However, in certain situations, the Court can deviate from the Guidelines in setting support. This is not the rule, however. The Court must set forth specific reasons it is deviating from the Guidelines, which may take into consideration other financial obligations of each parent.
For parents whose combined gross monthly incomes exceed $40,000, the court, in it discretion, can determine a child support award. A certified public accountant can also be retained to perform what is called a child support extrapolation which is a child support figure based on the parties’ gross incomes using certain numerical configurations. This sum is used to assist the court in determining a child support award. Contrary to popular belief, there is no child support “cap” of $2,500.00 per month for high income earning parents.
It is important to note that if alimony is also a component of your case, this, too, will affect your child support award.
You can use the online child support calculator provided by the South Carolina Department of Social Services to input different numbers in determining your potential child support award or payments as a guidepost. There is nothing that prohibits either party from contracting into more or less than what the child support guidelines require.
Shared Custody Considerations
The number of overnights the noncustodial parent receives per year does modify the child support award to the custodial parent. A standard every other weekend visitation schedule from Friday until Sunday, together with a normal holiday rotation of the children between parents each year and three or four weeks of summer visitation to the visiting parent equals at or near 110 overnights per year. The more overnight visitation the noncustodial parent receives each year over the standard 110 overnights, the more this may reduce the child support obligation.
Enforcing Child Support Orders
Legal Remedies for Non-Payment
If you are in a situation where a supporting parent refuses to pay their court ordered support causing a significant child support balance, so long as your child support award is court ordered, there are enforcement mechanisms to help you collect what is owed.
Unfortunately, child support arrearages can be difficult, time consuming and expensive for the custodial parent to pursue because the paying parent simply refuses to pay.
A child support arrearage only comes into play when a valid court order exists and requires a parent to pay child support. Without a court order in place, there is nothing to enforce in the family court. Therefore, handshake agreements between parents have no meaning.
If a parent refuses to pay his or her court ordered support, you can file an Affidavit with the Clerk’s Office where your order was issued. Once the Affidavit is filed, all future payments must be paid through the Clerk of Court together with any court cost fees. This will result in a delay in you receiving your support each month, however, the Clerk’s Office is then responsible for enforcing its child support balances. This is called a “Clerk’s Rule To Show Cause” in which the Clerk itself can rule a paying party in for failure to pay court ordered support. This will involve a hearing in front of a Judge at which time the paying party could be held in willful contempt of the order. He or she could be ordered to pay the arrearage or go to jail for up to one year pending payment of the arrearage.
In Clerk’s Rules, the custodial parent is not required to pay any attorney out of pocket to enforce the court order. However, arrearages can become very high before the Clerk’s Office actually enforces the court order, which is a drawback.
You can file your own Rule to Show Cause and it is recommended that you do so through legal counsel. You can seek reimbursement of all unpaid child support as well as reimbursement of your attorney fees and costs.
This hearing is a trial, meaning testimony of the parties is taken and evidence is presented in front of a judge. The hearing can result in the paying party being held in willful contempt of the court order, being required to pay the arrearage, being fined, or being ordered to jail which can be purged upon payment of the arrearage in full, together with an award of attorney fees and costs.
Wage Garnishment
A nonpaying parent can be subject to a wage or Social Security income garnishment for failure to pay. You can fill out a form with the Clerk’s office where your support order is located and ask that they serve a notice of wage withholding to the paying spouse’s employer or to Social Security. The employer of Social Security is required to deduct the child support from the paying parent’s paycheck each month. However, wage withholding only applies while the paying parent is employed. If a parent has no employment stability, this can create an issue.
When Can Child Support Be Modified?
Child support can be modified based upon a material and substantial change in circumstances such as a significant increase in income or a decrease in income through no fault of your own. In other words, purposeful underemployment will likely not grant you an automatic reduction in child support. Increased costs of childcare, additional dependents in the home, or change in coverage of health insurance for a child by a parent can also be grounds for modification.
Why You Need a Child Support Attorney
In cases where you believe your spouse or the parent of your child earns more income than is being reported, it is a good idea to hire legal counsel to assist you with uncovering their true income. If all income is not being reported by a parent or spouse, you can significantly undervalue the support you are entitled to receive.
In these circumstances, we assist clients with obtaining true and accurate income information through appropriate discovery tools such as subpoenas and document production requests.
Also, because contempt proceedings are a trial on the issue, it benefits clients to have trusted legal counsel to prosecute or to defend against these cases.
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My late father, Jan Warner, was an accomplished and widely known family law attorney and nationally syndicated author in South Carolina, so this area of law runs in my blood. It is all I have ever known, and I cannot imagine doing anything else.