| Both parents are obliged by law to support their children in accordance with their ability to do so. Most jurisdictions have set child support guidelines, which provide a formula for calculating child maintenance based upon a proportion of gross income earned by each parent.
Such issues are seldom a concern for the court when parents are bound together by marriage or committed relationship. But when parents divorce or no longer live together with their children as a family, a non-custodial parent is obliged to pay child support to a custodial parent. This issue can be settled by agreement or by arguing over it in front of a judge. Like alimony, the child maintenance issue, may be incorporated into the divorce judgment or may be provided for in a marital separation agreement.
The other legal obligations of both the mother and the father will also be taken into account in determining child maintenance. For instance, if a parent is paying child support from a previous relationship, it will be taken into consideration. Necessities of life, including rent and food will also be considered by the court. Nevertheless, the court will not reduce child support payments to make it easier for the parent to pay discretionary obligations.
For the court to establish the proper amount of child maintenance, both parents are to fill in a financial declaration. Each parent will be required to provide complete information about their income, property holdings, such as current accounts, investments and real estate and their financial obligations. These documents will be heavily relied on by the court in making the order and, therefore, it is in the children's best interests that the required documents be filled in completely and honestly.
Those who avoid paying child support will be punished. If the custodial parent complains to the district attorney's office, the nonpaying parent can be taken to court In the USA if the defendant is found guilty, he or she may be imprisoned. Or, the guilty parent may be placed on probation and allowed to remain free if he or she pays all off child support and makes all future payments in time. |