In Tarrant County, Texas, if you are the parent who does not have primary conservatorship of your children, you will be required to pay child support. It doesn’t matter if you and your former or soon-to-be former spouse agree that neither of you will pay child support. Tarrant County has six family law district courts and none of them will allow parents to agree to no child support if a parent has a greater amount of time with the children than the other parent.
Please consult your attorney to determine what you should pay for child support. There are many ins and outs to child support so you need confer with an attorney to validate your net resources and identify if your situation qualifies to deviate from guideline child support. This is meant to give you a general idea of what to expect.
To determine the amount of child support a parent will pay every month the court must:
- Determine the net resources of the person paying child support;
- Apply the guidelines for child support to the net resources of the person paying child support; and
- Consider any factors that might allow for deviating from the guidelines.
Determine the net resources of the person paying child support
Child support is based on the net resources of the person paying child support. The Texas Family Code identifies what is included in net resources. Net resources include the following:
- Wage and salary income (If there is no evidence of a salary, the court presumes a salary of the federal minimum wage at 40 hours a week.);
- Self-employment income;
- Severance pay;
- Retirement pay;
- Social Security benefits;
- Unemployment benefits;
- Disability and workers’ compensation benefits;
- Alimony;
- Child support (received for other children);
- Net rental income;
- Interest income;
- Capital gains;
- Trust distributions;
- Annuity income;
- Gifts and prizes;
- Deemed income; and
- Other income (examples: cash inheritance, athletic scholarship).
- Return of capital or principal;
- Accounts receivable;
- Welfare benefits;
- Foster-care payments; and
- Spouse’s income.
- Federal income taxes;
- State income taxes;
- Social Security Taxes;
- Nondiscretionary retirement-plan contributions;
- Union dues; and
- Child’s health insurance or cash medical support.
Apply the guidelines for child support to the net resources of the person paying child support
Child support is calculated based on a person’s monthly net resources. Once you have determined the monthly net resources of the person paying child support, you have to apply the child-support guidelines in the Texas Family Code. If the child support payer’s net monthly resources are $7,500 or less, child support is calculated as a percentage of the net resources.
When all the children requiring support by the person paying child support live in one household, the amount of monthly child support is calculated based on the following percentages:
Number of Children Amount of Child Support
1 20% of monthly net resources
2 25% of monthly net resources
3 30% of monthly net resources
4 35% of monthly net resources
5 40% of monthly net resources
6+ Not less than 40%
These percentages are adjusted if you have other children you are required to support. For example, if this is your second divorce and you are already paying child support for 2 other children, your child support for the children of your second marriage will be reduced accordingly. You should consult a family law lawyer to determine how the other children affect what you child support should be in your current case.
Consider any factors that might allow for deviating from the guidelines
The amount of child support a person pays can be adjusted up or down from the guidelines based on specific factors identified in the Texas Family Code. Some of those factors include the age and need of the child, the child’s education expenses beyond secondary school, uninsured medical expenses of the child, travel cost for exercising possession of and access to the child, child-care expenses that allow either party to maintain gainful employment, and spousal maintenance paid or received by a party. This list is not all-inclusive. If you feel you have circumstances allowing for a deviation from guideline child support, it is a good idea to discuss those with your attorney to determine if a deviation is possible for your situation.
Child support is usually just a math problem but because of the many exceptions and oddities, it is always a good idea to consult an attorney to make sure you are paying or receiving the right amount.
Ami J. Decker
www.famlawtex.com
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