Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas

Re: child support calculations

The Kansas child support guidelines are based on gross income figures, so the 7% KPERS retirement deduction is not taken on the Child Support Worksheet. It may interest you to know that the child support chart amounts do take into consideration that income deductions for social security, federal retirement and federal and state income taxes, as well as property taxes on owner-occupied housing are not available for family spending. Thus, although the child support chart uses gross income as an index that points to a child support figure, the entries in the chart are based upon either typical consumption spending estimates or after-tax income, whichever is lower.

Even if a wage earner's income is adjusted for a salary reduction arrangement for qualified benefits offered under a cafeteria plan, the gross income of the wage earner, regardless of whether it is taxable or nontaxable, is to be used to compute the child support obligation.

One of the theories behind this rationale is to prevent excessive manipulation of payroll deductions.

A judge would have to assess all factors to determine whether the one-time wage recovery of $10,000.00 should be used to adjust child support. One solution would be for the judge to order a percentage of the $10,000.00 to be paid as child support, but to use the current actual income of the wage earner as the basis for the child support obligation on a prospective basis.