New York Child Support Demystified

Child Support Standards Act (CSSA)

Child support in New York state is governed by a statute. Included in that statute is the basic Child Support Standards Act. This act includes a calculation to determine each parent’s respective share of child support in accordance with this formula or this calculation.

The first step is determining each parent’s income, and it’s from all sources. It delineates what constitutes income. Then from that income from each parent, there are certain allowable deductions, but most significantly, state and federal income taxes are not deducted from the gross income to be used in the calculation.

After you determine what each parent’s income is, you first look at the statutory combined income or apply the guidelines to the statutory combined income of what is now currently $183,000 of combined parental income. From that, you apply a percentage based upon the number of children. If you have one child, it’s 17%; two children is 25%; three children is 29%; four children, 31%; and more than five children is 35%.

So, you calculate basically what each parent’s respective share from their income is to be used to support the children. It is based upon an understanding that support would be provided to the parent who is the Primary Residential parent of the children. If there is a shared arrangement with time with the children where children share equal or nearly equal time with both parents, there still may be an application of the guidelines with the higher income parent being deemed the non-custodial or the payor of Child Support to the other parent if they are the lower income parent.

The whole idea is that you’re basically looking at the combined income of both parents, and from that income, there’s an obligation to support the children from your combined income. So, by having a payment of Child Support to the other parent, it’s basically an equalization of income available for the children in each respective home. And that’s just for the basic child support. It includes the basic everyday living expenses of the children.

Statutory Income Cap for Child Support in New York State

If the combined income of both parents is above the statutory cap, which currently is $183,000, the courts could look at income above that based upon a series of factors and apply those percentages to the income above that first statutory capped amount of $183,000 to determine a child support obligation.

Depending upon where you live in the state and the standard of living that the children have been accustomed to, and the cost of living wherever you’re living in the state, the child support standards act has been applied or the statutory cap has been applied to income above the statutory cap.

For example, in Westchester County, because the cost of living is what it is, there have been cases and judges who have applied the guidelines to a combined income of $350,000 or even $400,000 or maybe a smattering of cases just a little bit above that. Whereas if you live in like Erie County in New York state, where maybe the cost of living isn’t as high as in the Metro New York area, the cap has remained at the statutory cap of $183,000.

Irrespective, if you can’t reach an agreement and you go into a court setting, the courts really do have discretion whether it’s unjust or inappropriate to even apply the guidelines on the statutory amount or even income above that based upon a series of factors.

Standard of Living and Child Support

Standard of living is a very significant factor, as well as the financial resources of the parents and the family. Once you determine what that basic child support obligation is, and say it’s paid on a monthly basis or a bi-weekly basis to the other parent, either paid by the non-custodial parent or the higher income parent if you have a shared parenting arrangement, there are also mandatory additional expenses that are also allocated between the parents. Because the basic child support covers just the everyday living expenses of the children, i.e., room and board, just their ordinary course of living expenses.

Mandatory Child Care Expenses

What are in addition or mandatory add-ons are child care expenses, which is for a parent who’s working or seeking employment for child care, and that cost is usually allocated in accordance with what the prorated share of income to each parent is. So, if one parent is making 80% of the income, the other 20% of the combined income, it would be allocated 80/20, for example. It’s not for child care for a parent to go to a movie or to do something that’s more discretionary. It’s actually child care while a parent is working or seeking employment.

The other mandatory add-on expense would be medical insurance and unreimbursed medical and dental expenses. Those are considered additional. The cost of the premium attributable to the children is a cost that’s allocated prorata between the parents or in another way, as well as those expenses that are not ordinarily covered or otherwise covered by insurance. Those costs would be allocated; things like co-pays or deductibles when you go to the emergency room or so forth and so on, or therapeutic expenses that are not otherwise covered. Those would generally need to be agreed upon, but there are those that are less discretionary when it’s a needed expense for the children.

Discretionary Child Care Expenses

More discretionary expenses, however, like education expenses, are prorated or allocated between the parents but it’s usually predicated upon some agreement between the parties. A lot of times parents will allocate costs such as college and other education-related expenses but it is a discretionary expense and only if a court orders it or parents agree. It’s not a mandated additional expense.

Other expenses such as extracurricular activities and summer camp also have a certain degree of discretion predicated upon agreement by the parents. If not, it may not be allocated between the parents. And summer camp may also be considered a daycare expense, especially if the parent is working and needing a day camp situation for the children to supervise them while they’re working.

College and Child Support

In New York, it’s not uncommon to have college expenses allocated, especially if both parents are college educated and seeking to cover that expense. Sometimes it’s capped at a State University level with the cost allocated between the parents, maybe just prior to the entry into college and prorated according to incomes or in some other way.

Child Support Negotiation through Mediation or the Collaborative Process

So, that’s just an overview of what child support is, but essentially how we work it through and negotiate this in a mediation or in a collaborative or any kind of settlement negotiations would be to really look at the actual needs of the children and to define the interests of the parents, what their goals are in terms of supporting the children in the best way that they imagined and agreed to, and making sure that the child support is addressed.

Certainly, in every agreement, you need to address what the child support presumptive amount would be under the guidelines, at least the statutory cap, and recite that in every agreement. If you do that and you figure out another way of supporting the children in a way that’s agreed upon, that would be okay but each agreement does need to address what the amount would be under the guidelines and whether you’re applying it or not applying it for any deviation from the child support guidelines to be approved and ratified by a court.

Child Support and Working with a Financial Professional

So, what’s really important and what I do in the mediations and collaborative cases that I work on is many times we work with a financial professional to help develop lifestyle expenses and understand exactly what are the expenses in each household and how are they going to be met based upon the incomes that parents are bringing in. Sometimes it’s a little bit more challenging when a parent has maybe a base income and then more discretionary additional income such as a bonus or other deferred income that is not so regular; or if they’re a business owner and their income isn’t as regular and consistent. So sometimes it’s helpful having creative options to deal with that.

Emancipation Age and Child Support

Another thing to note too is that child support is not just up until a child is 21. That’s the emancipation age in New York unless earlier at 18 if they get married or get a full-time job or join the Peace Corps or the Army. So, it could be earlier than 21, as early as 18, or even beyond 21 if they’re still in college; and you can agree that maybe the emancipation age is when they complete college. If they have special needs, it might even be until 26. There’s new legislation regarding that.

Recalculating Child Support

As each child emancipates, the child support percentage would need to be recalculated. It also may be recalculated if there is a change of income. There’s something called the modification child support act that allows for modification if there’s a substantial change of circumstances and then a recalculation according to the guidelines if there’s been a change of income by more than 15% by either parent and if there’s been more than three years since the determination of child support. You could seek a recalculation under the guidelines, especially if you followed the guidelines.

If you haven’t followed the guidelines and figured out another way of doing it, sometimes people apply a cost-of-living index, but you can’t waive a substantial change of circumstances as a modification even if you have maybe even deviated from guidelines.

It’s All About the Children

So, the state is really much interested, and I’m sure each parent is as well, that the children are well supported. And that’s why this part about child support is something that the courts really look at with great scrutiny.

In every agreement, you really need to recite what the child support standards act is, that you’ve reviewed it with counsel, that you’ve done the calculation, and if you’ve either applied it, how have you applied it, if you’ve deviated, and as long as that’s included and you agreed on whatever it is that you agree to, it’s likely going to be ratified. But if you don’t include it, it would need to be addressed.

So, this is just kind of a short synopsis of the basic child support. There are a lot of other considerations and things to think about, but I do think that if you are negotiating this, it really helps to negotiate it in a cooperative space; in a space where you’re really looking out for the best interest of the children and really looking at numbers that are realistic and values that you both share, and providing the best support possible for your children.

I encourage you to kind of think about that when you consider how the children will be supported and the lifestyle that you hope the children enjoy while they’re in two homes with the parents who really care for them.

So, thank you very much. If you want more information about my services or about child support, feel free to contact me.

Thank you.