Child Support

Child Support in the United States

Child Support in Plain-English Law

Money paid by a parent to support children (Child Support as defined by Nolo’s Encyclopedia of Everyday Law in page 437-455) until the children reach the age of majority or become emancipated usually by getting married, entering the armed forces, or living independently.

Calculating Child Support in California and other States

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual Expenditures on Children by Families has become a tool for quelling discord in the oft-contentious process of calculating child support payments.

Based on more than 15,000 responses to the annual Consumer Expenditure Survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report details how much it costs to raise a child over the course of the next 17 years. These numbers may be useful as a neutral starting point for negotiating child support.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the total cost of raising a child born in 2009 to age 17 is between $205,960 and $475,680, adjusted for inflation.

The agency’s interactive Cost of Raising a Child Calculator also allows users to go online to tailor a yearly estimate according to geography and other key factors, such as income level.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers prompt battling parents to keep things in perspective.

The cost of children per year:

Health Care $925
Clothing $988
Other $1,250
Food $1,725
Transportation $1,925
Child Care/Education $3,163
Housing $5,838
TOTAL $15,814

Note: Estimates are based on a two-parent family living in a California city or suburb, with one child and an income between $56,000 and $98,000 per year.

Source: 2009 Expenditures on Children by Families, U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Cost of Raising a Child Calculator.

In Divorce

Parents have a legal obligation to support their children. In a divorce, the non-custodial parent will be ordered to pay child support to the custodial parent. If there is joint custody, the parent who has primary physical custody will receive child support from the other parent. Each state has child support guidelines that are used to determine the amount of child support.

Executive Order

Relating to the Implementation of the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (December 08, 2016):

“The United States of America deposited its instrument of ratification of the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (Convention) on September 7, 2016. The Convention will enter into force for the United States on January 1, 2017. Article 4 of the Convention imposes upon States Parties an obligation to designate a “Central Authority” for the purpose of discharging certain specified functions.

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is ordered as follows:

Section 1. Designation of Central Authority. The Department of Health and Human Services is hereby designated as the Central Authority of the United States for purposes of the Convention. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is hereby authorized and empowered, in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, to perform all lawful acts that may be necessary and proper in order to execute the functions of the Central Authority in a timely and efficient manner.

Sec. 2. Designation of State IV-D Child Support Agencies. The Central Authority may designate the State agencies responsible for implementing an approved State Plan under title IV-D of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 651 et seq., as public bodies authorized to perform specific functions in relation to applications under the Convention.”

Foreign reciprocating country for purposes of child-support enforcement

The U.S. Code (42 U.S.C. 659a) authorizes the Secretary of State, under certain conditions and with the concurrence of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to declare a foreign country or political subdivision thereof to be a foreign reciprocating country for purposes of child-support enforcement. In order to be declared a foreign reciprocating country, a foreign country must have established or undertaken to establish procedures available to U.S. residents that are in substantial conformity with the following standards:

  • Procedures for the establishment of paternity;
  • Procedures for the establishment of support orders;
  • Procedures for the enforcement of support orders;
  • Procedures for the collection and distribution of payments under support orders;
  • Provision of all of these services, including administrative and legal assistance where necessary, without cost to the United States resident; and
  • Establishment of a “central authority” to facilitate implementation of support enforcement in cases involving residents of the United States.

The negotiations with foreign countries regarding a child-support agreement with the United States are handled, in a first step, by the Legal Adviser for Private International Law of the Department of State. The U.S. Central Authority for these bilateral agreements is the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement (Department of State).

There is a list of countries with which the United States has bilateral reciprocal agreements or unilateral declarations.

U.S. State-Level Reciprocal Arrangements

In addition to providing authority for Federal-level child support declarations, 42 U.S.C. 659a provides that States “may enter into reciprocal arrangements for the establishment and enforcement of support obligations with foreign countries that are not the subject of a [Federal] declaration … to the extent consistent with Federal law.”

The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA), which has been adopted by every State, provides that a State may enter into reciprocal arrangements for the enforcement of child-support obligations with a foreign country that has procedures the State determines to be substantially similar to UIFSA. Each U.S. State and territory with a federally funded child-support program has provided information about reciprocal arrangements it may have with other countries in its response to the section titled “reciprocity” on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Support Enforcement Intergovernmental Referral Guide.

Child Support Enforcement and Parental Child Abduction

According to the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement policy issuance Dear Colleague Letter (DCL-99-19), “there is no Federal mandate under title IV-D of the Social Security Act that requires IV-D agencies to enforce child support where a custody dispute exists. The State IV-D agency clearly has discretion not to proceed in providing child-support enforcement services in cases of disputed custody, even where there is a State or Federal reciprocity agreement with the country in which the child is located.”

Additionally, as the United States recognized when the Hague Child Support Convention was transmitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification:

“Pursuant to Article 22(a), the public policy exception, a U.S. competent authority could decline to recognize and enforce a decision against a left-behind U.S. parent in an abduction case where the child had been wrongfully taken or retained, on the grounds that recognition and enforcement of such a decision would be manifestly incompatible with the U.S. public policy of discouraging international parental child abduction” – Treaty Doc 110-21, Senate, 110th Congress, 2nd Session

Under certain circumstances the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) may be used for enforcing a Federal or State law with respect to the unlawful taking or restraint of a child or making or enforcing a child custody or visitation determination. The Office of Children’s Issues (CA/OCS/CI) utilizes the Federal Parent Locator Service in order to locate taking parents in the United States in accordance with 22 U.S.C. 9008(d).

Child Support, Sexual Behaviour and the Law

Child Custody and Support

Leading Case Law

Among the main judicial decisions on this topic:

Painter v. Bannister

Information about this important court opinion is available in this American legal Encyclopedia.

References

See Also

  • Marriage
  • Family
  • Alimony

Cause of Action Against Former Domestic Partner to Pay Child Support: an Overview

This section examines this type of action. This subject identifies the various elements of the Cause of Action Against Former Domestic Partner to Pay Child Support, offering a practical approach to the litigation issues of this cause of action. See also the entry about legal risks.

The United States Child Support

General information about how to how calculate child support amounts in the United States for divorcing or otherwise unmarried parents (guidelines for the United States), including a practical overview of considerations for non-custodial parents in the United States to determine amounts of payment. For additional details, see the U.S. entry on child support orders here.

Child Support

In Legislation

Child Support in the U.S. Code: Title 18, Part I, Chapter 11A

The current, permanent, in-force federal laws regulating child support are compiled in the United States Code under Title 18, Part I, Chapter 11A. It constitutes “prima facie” evidence of statutes relating to Criminal Law (including child support) of the United States. The reader can further narrow his/her legal research of the general topic (in this case, Family Law and Children of the US Code, including child support) by chapter and subchapter.

Resources

See Also

  • Child Custody
  • Divorce
  • Family Law
  • Parent and Child
  • Welfare.
  • Children’s Rights
  • Family Policy
  • Single-Parent Families.

Further Reading

Further Reading (Articles)

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