| Both the mother and the father have a legal obligation to support their children financially according to their ability to do so. Normally, jurisdictions have establish child support regulations, which provide a formula for determining child maintenance based on a proportion of each parent's gross income.
Such issues are seldom a concern for the court when parents are bound by marriage or committed relationship. But when parents end their marriage or cease to live together with their children as a family, a non-custodial parent is obliged to pay child support to a custodial parent. Like the issue of custody, this can be settled out of court or by arguing about it in front of a judge. Child maintenance payments, like alimony, may be included into the divorce judgment or may be determined in a marital separation agreement. You can avoid making child maintenance a contested issue, by both parents determining the appropriate sum of child support and making this agreement part of an MSA.
The other lawful responsibilities of both parents will also be taken into account in deciding on child maintenance. For example, if a parent is paying child maintenance from a previous relationship, the court will take that obligation into consideration. Necessities of life, such as food and rent will also be taken into account by the judge. However, child support payments will not be decreased to make it easier for the non-custodial parent to pay discretionary obligations. Unlike alimony, payments of child maintenance cannot be deducted from the parent's income taxes.
For the court to decide on the proper sum of child support, both parties will be required by the court to fill in a financial declaration. Each parent will be required to fully reveal their income, the nature and extent of their property holdings, including checking accounts, investments and real property and their financial obligations. These documents will be heavily relied upon by the court in making the order and, thus, it is in the children's interests that the declarations be filled out fully and honestly.
Parents who refuse to pay child maintenance can be punished. |
