At JC Law Offices, we represent both men and women in both the initial determination and later modifications of child support. Whether you are not getting the child support necessary to provide for your child’s needs, or you are being forced to pay excessive child support or facing oppressive enforcement of child support orders by the government, our law firm can provide you the representation you need to get the right result.

Initial Determination of California Child Support

California Family Law recognizes that every parent of a child has an obligation to support that child suitable to that child’s circumstances. Unless the parents agree otherwise, or in some cases involving incapacitated children, each parent’s duty to support their child lasts until the child reaches the age of eighteen, is married or dies. There is an extension of this duty where the child is unmarried and still in high school and not able to support themselves. In such a case, the duty to pay child support continues until the child graduates or turns 19, whichever occurs first.

The amount of child support you may be ordered to pay will depend upon the particular facts in your case, including the income of both parents, the parents’ tax-filing status, health insurance expenses, the amount of visitation or time-share each parent has with the child, and any special needs of the child, including education costs, child-care and health care expenses.

The California legislature has adopted a state-wide guideline for child support to be followed by all courts in this state. This formula, however, is expressed algebraically and cannot be computed by hand. Courts and attorneys must use a computer software program to determine the exact amount of guideline support for each case. The following link is to the State of California’s site for calculating child support: http://www.childsup.ca.gov/Resources/CalculateChildSupport/tabid/114/Default.aspx. Many courts actually use this public website to determine guideline child support.

Generally, time-share with the child is the most important factor in calculating California guideline child support. This is because the more time the child is in a parent’s physical custody, this is more time that parent spends directly supporting the child, which in turn satisfies that parent’s obligation to support his/her child. This is why (again speaking very generally) where both parents make relatively the same net income and have roughly equal or joint custody, neither parent will be obligated to pay significant, if any, child support to the other. People who pay the highest levels of child support for their net income level are those who have little or no timeshare with the child.

In some cases, parentage issues may arise, which may affect whether or not you are obligated to support the child. If you suspect you are not the father of the child, you must act fast and request a blood test to determine paternity within two years of the child’s birth. If you don’t this, you may lose this defense and the child may be presumed to be yours—meaning you’ll be obligated paying the child support for someone else’s child!

At JC Law Offices, our experienced child support attorneys will aggressively litigate any and all issues that may arise in your child support case and make sure you and your child’s rights are protected.

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