Which Factors Determine Child Support in California?

When a marriage that resulted in children enters the process of dissolution, the divorce process can become especially tedious. Usually, parents will be especially sensitive around custody and child support issues, making the importance of negotiating a favorable outcome imperative for all parties involved. If you’re considering a divorce in California and are unsure what to petition for child support, an Irvine child support lawyer can help you understand your rights and needs.

Making the difficult decision to divorce your spouse is further complicated when children are involved, and if you’re seeking sole custody or plan on being the primary caregiver, you need to make sure you are requesting substantial child support to cover your swelling costs. Below, we outline five factors that tend to determine child support cases in California.

Parents’ Duty to Support Minors

In California, both parents are legally required to financially support their children until they are 18 years old. If your child is disabled or faces other hardships, a court may extend this requirement beyond the child’s 18 years of age. As such, parents should prepare their budgets to accommodate child support requirements.

Assessing Each Parent’s Financial Position

When assessing how much child support is owed by either parent, California courts will follow a statewide Uniform Guideline to calculate their obligation. Factors will include each parent’s annual income, the amount of time the child spends with each parent, and each parent’s current standard of living. The court will heavily weigh which parent is primarily responsible for care since this parent will be responsible for maintaining the child’s current standard of living.

In order to determine child support, the court will request evidence of each parent’s total earnings and net worth, requesting documents like W-2 forms, pay stubs, income and expense declarations, bank statements, real property, and other assets, and any additional documents that offer a window into their financial position.

How an Irvine Child Support Lawyer Can Help

Divorce can be highly emotional and often requires the sound and level-headed expertise of an experienced attorney. Your Irvine child support lawyer can assist you in gathering all of the necessary documentation and building a case for a reasonable child support settlement that takes into consideration your position as a primary or secondary caregiver or earner. If you’re unsure what to expect during this process, your attorney will make sure you are prepared to fight for what you and your child deserve.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main factors in the California child support calculation?

Two inputs dominate: each parent’s net disposable income and the percentage of time each parent has primary physical responsibility for the children. Net disposable income begins with gross income from all sources and subtracts specified items, including income taxes actually payable, mandatory retirement contributions and union dues, health insurance premiums, and support paid for children of another relationship. The number of children being supported also affects the result. Because certified software applies the formula, the contest is over the inputs rather than the math.

What counts as income?

The definition is broad and reaches well beyond wages. It includes salary, bonus, commission, self-employment earnings, distributions from a closely held business, rents, interest, dividends, pensions, annuities, unemployment and disability benefits, and the realized value of equity compensation. Certain public assistance benefits are excluded. For a business owner, income available for support is reconstructed from the entity’s records rather than taken from the tax return, adding back personal expenses paid by the company and normalizing owner compensation.

Can a court use earning capacity instead of actual income?

Yes. Where a parent has both the ability and the opportunity to work and imputation is consistent with the children’s best interest, the court can base support on earning capacity rather than on actual earnings. Establishing earning capacity requires evidence, typically employment history, qualifications, and testimony about available positions and prevailing wages, sometimes through a vocational evaluation. Imputation is not automatic, and a parent genuinely unable to find work is treated differently from one who has chosen not to earn.

Is the guideline amount mandatory?

It is presumptively correct, which means it applies unless a party rebuts the presumption on a statutory ground. Recognized grounds include a parent having an extraordinarily high income such that the formula exceeds the children’s needs, a parent not contributing at a level commensurate with their custodial time, and specified circumstances involving multiple households or special medical needs. Parents may also stipulate to a different amount, but a below-guideline stipulation requires specific declarations to be enforceable.