Determining Child Support
As you have learned, married parents both have a legal obligation to support their children financially. Usually, when a couple divorces, the question arises as to just how much each spouse is expected to contribute to bringing up the children. Two factors are considered when determining how much each spouse, custodial and non-custodial, must contribute:
In implementing this approach to child support (or
maintenance
) payments, the courts generally follow three steps:
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They determine the amount of money needed to support the child's needs.
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They divided this amount up according to the parents' incomes.
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They order the non-custodial parent to pay his or her portion over to the custodial parent, normally on a monthly basis.