Why do I have to pay so much child support?

This is a question I often get from clients paying child support.

If you are currently paying support, then you know that in California there is a guideline formula that courts follow to determine the amount the paying party must provide to the custodial parent.

Generally speaking, both parties have a financial obligation to support their children and this obligation is determined by the very popular program known as “Dissomaster”. This tax-based program takes into consideration the income of both parents, the time each spends with the child, and other important factors such as mortgage interest payments, union dues, medical deductions, children’s case expenses, etc. Based on the numbers connected to this program, a payment amount is produced.

So to answer the question ‘Why do I have to pay so much child support?’: It could be a number of factors such as:

1) You make much more money than the other parent… (and NOT your new spouse’s income does not count toward child support)

2) You don’t spend a lot of time with the kids. The average timesharing (this is changing…) is typically 20% for the “non-custodial” parent and 80% for the custodial parent.

3) You pay a lot of interest on your house (this actually increases your liability because you can claim said expense on your tax return, so it is essentially considered a benefit to you).

4) The other parent pays the medical expenses.

5) Their children have high childcare expenses.

So before you go to court or talk to your spouse (or ex) about child support, make sure you meet with a lawyer who can run the numbers through the program and can then advise you on these five factors.