Making Good Use of a Child Support Chart

Divorce is hard, there is no denying that. When it comes to taking care of the children, however, divorce becomes more difficult. You want the children to be taken care of and kept out of the stress of the divorce proceedings, but that seems impossible when it comes to figuring out custody and child support. If you are looking to predict how much child support you will owe or will be owed, you can base your predictions on a helpful resource called a child support chart.

What is Child Support?

Most parents in the midst of a divorce understand that child support will come into play if they have children under the age of 21. However, it can be difficult to understand how much will be paid out and what child support is even meant to cover. It can be stressful trying to predict how much money will be paid out, on top of all the other concerns like custody and visitation arrangements.

Child support payments ensures that both parents are taking care of their children, with one parent acting as custodian and the other as a supporting, non-custodial parent. Child support is often calculated based on the basic child support obligation. A basic child support obligation is meant to cover expenses like food, clothing, and housing for the child or children. This makes sure that even the non-custodial parent will provide and care for their children. Child support is meant to help the children be cared for, not for the other parent to benefit necessarily. With appropriately calculated child support, all children involved in the divorce will be safe and cared for.

How to Use Child Support Tables

The law assigns a child support percentage, based on the number of children in the family. Many states have created calculators and tables that will help you predict how much child support will be paid out. These child support tables take into account how many children are involved, as well as how much money the parent paying child support makes. The calculations will include any extra payments, such as medical insurance or child-care payments that were agreed upon. If you have not discussed other options yet, you can see what will be paid out based on medical insurance or other support obligations.

By using a child support chart, you can take some of the stress out of the divorce. You will be able to predict what will come from the divorce, as well as be reassured that you can continue to care for your child without concern. If you are concerned about your children involved in the divorce, talking with your lawyer and looking at the right child support charts can help you manage your concerns.

When your kids are affected by the divorce law process, you need a well experienced family law lawyer to ensure the best result for your family.