North Carolina uses specific child support guidelines to determine how much money the payor parent owes each month. These guidelines take into account not only the need for adequate housing for the child, but also essential items for the child’s well-being such as clothing, food, household expenses, utilities, transportation and school-related expenses. The goal of the child support guidelines is to provide consistency and financial stability in a child’s life, which includes these direct and indirect expenses.
North Carolina’s child support guidelines are based on an Income Shares Model which considers the monthly gross incomes of both parents. Gross income is a parent’s total income every month, prior to the withholding of taxes. Gross Income may not just be salary or payroll wages a parent receives from his or her respective employment. Income may be derived from any source to include income a parent may receive from stock dividends, disability payments, or any other financial resource.
Unlike the more traditional models, the Income Shares Model takes into account the income of BOTH parents, not just the payor parent. This model developed from the theory that financially supporting the child of a marriage is the responsibility of both parents. Therefore, the child should receive the same proportion of financial support from each parent’s income that the child would have received if the parents lived together. For example, if both parents work and make the same amount of money monthly, they should each respectively contribute 50 percent to the support of their child.
To ease the burdensome calculations and to determine the proportion each parent should contribute, North Carolina uses tables based on the Income Shares Model. Contact your attorney at Sodoma Law to determine your support calculation based on the tables provided or to determine whether your child support calculation should deviate, in any way, from that model. As not every child’s needs may be met within these child support guidelines, a deviation from the guidelines may be warranted.
Child support guidelines are updated every four years, and 2010 is the next scheduled year for any necessary modifications to the guidelines.
Contact your attorney at Sodoma Law to make sure your child’s rights are adequately protected.
