Child Support

Topics include:

The duties of parents to support their children and the priority of child support orders over all other kinds of debt

How the amount of child support is determined under statewide guidelines and what other expenses are included in a child support order

How to prepare an order for an agreed amount of child support that meets the requirements of the law

How long does a child support order last? Does the collection of money from my paycheck automatically stop when my child reaches a certain age?

How do I obtain a child support order?

Where do I go for help?

How do I enforce my order for Child Support?
 

Frequently Asked Questions

The following links will take you to a separate page on the website. Return to this page with your browser's "back" or "go" commands if you did not finish the topic of Child Support before leaving:

What is an Order to Show Cause and what is involved in bringing or defending one?

What forms do I use?

What steps do I take to start the process, have a hearing, and obtain an order?

How do I respond to or defend against the other party's request to obtain or change an order?

Parental Duties

• A parent's first and principal obligation is to support his/her minor children

• A parent shall pay the court-ordered child support payment as the first priority before payment of any debts owed to creditors. (Fam.Code, § 4011.) Your other credtiors cannot put you in jail if you do not pay them. You can be sent to jail, fined, and/or ordered to perform community service for a willful refusal to pay your court ordered child support. (This is true for spousal support obligations as well.)

• However, the nonpayment of support does not provide a basis for refusing to let the delinquent parent have access to the child; nor does the refusal to allow access to the child provide an excuse for not paying support. (Fam.Code, § 3556.)

 
• Each parent has an equal responsibility to support the child. (Fam.Code, § 3900.)

Amount

• The amount of child support is required by law to be determined under a statewide uniform child support guideline. (Fam.Code, § 4052; Fam.Code, § 4055.)

• The guideline considers each parent's actual income or earning capacity and the amount of time each parent has the child in his or her care. (Fam.Code, § 4053.)

 
• The formula is based on net income as defined in the guideline law. The court is required to determine net income as it would be shown after filing a tax return and not as it is shown in the parents' paychecks. (Fam.Code, § 4059.) Therefore, it is usually not possible to determine the exact amount of child support unless you have access to one of the state-approved computer software programs specifically designed for the calculation of child support.

 
• You can obtain assistance with a guideline calculation of child support from an attorney who practices Family Law, from some paralegals, and from the court's Family Law Facilitator.

 
• The court will allow a deduction for the amount of child support you are ordered to pay and are actually paying for another child. (Fam.Code, § 4059.)

 
• The court may allow deductions from net income for extreme financial hardship due to justifiable expenses, such as, extraordinary health expenses, uninsured catastrophic losses, and minimum basic living expenses of natural or adopted children who reside with the parent. (Fam.Code, § 4059; Fam.Code, § 4070-4073.) You must be prepared to prove the actual amounts spent for any hardship allowance you are seeking.

 
• No hardship deduction from a parent's net income is allowed for another supported child if any of the children of that parent receive AFDC (Fam.Code, § 4071.5)

 
• No hardship allowance is made for your step-children even if yours is the only income that is supporting them (Fam.Code, § 4071)

 
• Courts are required to add to basic child support payments (Fam.Code, § 4062) the costs for

 
• child care related to work or reasonable and necessary education/training;
• reasonable uninsured health care costs for the children.

 
and the court has the discretion to add to basic child support payments the costs for
 
• educational or other special needs of the children;
• travel expenses for visitation.

• The court must also order health insurance to be maintained by either or both parents if the insurance is available at no cost or at reasonable cost compared to your income. (Fam.Code, § 3751.)

• The court will also order health care costs that are not reimbursed by health insurance to be shared between the parents under Family Code section 4063 in a manner that is described in detail in the Judicial Council's Notice of Rights and Responsibilities (Form 1285.78).

Settlements

• The guideline seeks to encourage fair and efficient settlements of conflicts between parents and seeks to minimize the need for litigation.

• The amount calculated under the guideline is presumed to be correct in all cases, and only under special circumstances will the court set child support orders below the child support mandated by the guideline formula. (Fam.Code, § 4057.) You and the child's other parent may agree to an amount of child support above or below the guideline amount. (Fam.Code, § 4065.) The court can only approve an agreement lower than the guideline amount if

• the recipient of support has not assigned the right to receive support to a public agency (unless the District Attorney signs the agreement before it is presented in court for filing)

 
• the parents state that their agreement is in the child's best interest and that the amount is sufficient to adequately meet the child's needs

 
• the parents state that they are fully informed of their rights concerning child support

 
• the parents state that the order is being agreed to without coercion or duress

 
• the parents set forth in their agreement that they know how much the guideline calls for and that they understand the amount they agree upon may be changed at any time without the need to show that circumstances have changed in the meantime

 
• The Judicial Council has prepared a Stipulation to Establish or Modify Child Support and Orders (Form 1285.27). It has all the language required by law for a child support agreement to be approved by the court, and it is preferred that you use that form in presenting your agreement to the court

Duration of Child Support

• Support continues until age 18 if the child is no longer attending high school as a full time student, until age 19 while still in high school full time, until completion of 12th grade while older than 18 but younger than 19, or if the child marries or becomes self-supporting (emancipated) before reaching the age of majority. A disabled adult child is entitled to child support beyond this period. (Fam.Code, § 3901.)

• If your earnings are being taken by a wage assignment for the support of your child, it does not automatically stop when a child attains the age of majority. You must obtain a court order to stop the wages from being automatically paid to the other parent. The easiest way is for you and the other parent to file a written agreement to terminate child support. If the parent who is receiving support will not sign such an agreement, you must serve and file an order to show cause to terminate child support.

Getting an order for child support

• if you are married to the other parent, you have to file an action for marital dissolution (divorce), annulment, or legal separation;

• if you are not married to the other parent, you have to file an action to establish paternity. A paternity action can be filed by either the mother or the father.

• If you file a paternity action or a petition for divorce, annulment, or legal separation, you can request orders for custody and visitation as well as child support.

 
• Child support orders can be made in a Domestic Violence case also.

Representation and Assistance

• You can contact an attorney for legal advice or to represent you by looking in the telephone book or calling a Lawyer Referral Service .

• If you are the parent seeking the payment of child support you may ask the District Attorney to bring an action or file enforcement or modification proceedings in an existing case. The District Attorney can help you with child support only and not with any other family issues such as custody, property, or a divorce. If you want custody or visitation orders in addition to child support, you must file your own divorce or paternity case. Contact the District Attorney Family Support Division.

• You can contact a paralegal to prepare documents, but remember that a paralegal is not licensed to practice law and cannot give you any legal advice, especially about important rights you might have.

• You can represent yourself. (Before you choose to do this, please read the webpage about Resources and Assistance for some common sense advice to those who are considering representing themselves.)

 

You are at risk when you represent yourself in a court of law. If you cannot afford to obtain counsel to represent you, at least seek some form of legal advice before you set forth on your own.
 

• You can purchase self-help resources at various booksellers and borrow them at public libraries. The Los Angeles County Law Library is located at 301 W 1st St. between Broadway and Hill in downtown Los Angeles across the street from the Central Civil Courthouse, and there are branch law libraries in some of the District Courthouses. There are also law libraries located in various law schools in the area. Some general public libraries that do not specialize in law books may have legal self-help books.

 
• You may look up online various provisions of the Family Code and other California Codes that may pertain to your case at the website maintained by the California Legislature. In representing yourself you should be aware that merely knowing the language of a code section may be insufficient knowledge since the court is also directed by published cases decided by California appellate courts that guide in interpreting those code sections.

 
• Here are links to two of the most frequently used codes in a Family Law court:
• Family Code (table of contents)
• Code of Civil Procedure (table of contents)

 
In representing yourself you will also be responsible for knowing the California Rules of Court and the Los Angeles County Court rules that apply to the conduct and processing of Family Law cases. (Other rules of court than those specifically geared toward Family Law cases may also apply, so you may have to familiarize yourself with more court rules than the ones directly linked above.)
 
• If you decide to represent yourself you will be expected to prepare and present your case like a lawyer and you will not be given special consideration even if you are opposed by a trained Family Law attorney representing the other party. It is a good idea to seek and obtain competent legal advice and representation if you can afford to do so.

 
• You can obtain legal forms in the Clerk's Office at each County Courthouse. You can also download current forms from the Judicial Council's website.

 
• Go to the court's webpage on Order to Show Cause Procedures for direct links to some of the law and most of the forms used in child support proceedings.

 
• If you are not represented by counsel, you are encouraged to seek the assistance of the Family Law Facilitator for

• help in selecting the correct forms to use
• making sure your papers have been filled out correctly and completely
• calculating child support
• assistance in arriving at an agreement with the other parent on issues of support, and general assistance with information needed in obtaining or defending against a child or spousal support order

Enforcing an Order for Child Support
 

Under Construction

Frequently Asked Questions

I have remarried. Is my spouse's income going to be counted for child support?

Generally, the Court will only use the parents' income for calculation of child support.  However, the Court must consider your spouse's income for the purpose of determining your own net-after-tax income if you file Married, Joint tax returns. In unusual cases, it may consider your spouse's income for other purposes. (Fam.Code, § 4057.5.)

If the other parent will not sign an agreement to terminate child support that you can file with the court, you must file an Order To Show Cause (or a Notice of Motion) requesting the Court to terminate the wage assignment.  When the Court grants your request, the judicial officer will sign a new wage assignment for zero to take to your employer. (See the discussion of this topic under Duration of Child Support on this webpage.)

If you have higher income than the other parent, you may still have to pay some child support.

If the other parent is receiving public assistance for the child(ren), then the Court can consider other court ordered child support that you are actually paying to the parent of that child, but the Court cannot give you credit for children living in your home that you may be supporting.

If the other parent is not receiving any public assistance, then the Court can give you credit for other court orders for child support and for children in your home that you are supporting. Be prepared to prove your actual expenses for such children, however.

Generally, you cannot receive credit for supporting step children, foster children, or grandchildren.

The amount of time that the child is in your custody is a factor in calculating child support.  Generally speaking, the more time you have the child, the lower your child support will be because the time the child spends in your home is reducing the expenses of the custodial parent and increasing your own.

Generally speaking, the Court cannot reduce or forgive interest on past due child support.  Consult an attorney.

If your employer is deducting up to 50% or more of your check, then you may have a very large arrearage (past due child support).  You should first contact the District Attorney Family Support Division (if the District Attorney is involved in the case) to see if you can make arrangements with them.  If that does not work, then you may need to file a motion with the Court to ask a judicial officer to set a payment on the arrearages that you can afford.

If an earnings assignment was not already signed by the court and served by you on the other party's employer, you may and should apply directly to the Court for the issuance of an assignment order that you can serve on the other party's employer who will then pay you directly. That is the easiest, cheapest, and quickest way to obtain payment on court-ordered support. You may also contact the District Attorney Family Support Division who will help any parent, regardless of your income and at no cost, enforce child support orders. You do not have to be on welfare to get help from the District Attorney.

For other remedies see the discussion on this webpage about Enforcing a Child Support Order