Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Child Support Calculations

In most states, child support is calculated using a formula designed to equally distribute the responsibilities for the child's financial needs. It is based upon assumptions about the child's standard of living,--given the after tax income of both parents and the amount of time the child spends with each. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. The child support agency should be able to calculate it for you quickly, provided they have the parents' information for their formula. Some states allow attorneys to have the software to calculate it themselves for recommendation to the judge as part of divorce proceedings. You also may be able to get a child support calculation manual from the local bar association library or the court. If they restrict access you can ask the secretary to perhaps get it for you,--or ask a lawyer to spend 15 minutes or so getting you the information even if s/he doesn't do the calculation for you. Good luck!

State law; conflict of laws

The rules are provided in the state law, but most places deduct expenses before reaching the amount, and the standards are the need of the child, the resources of the parent, the social status of the family while it was a unit, and other factors.The state law to be applied will be decided by the amount of contact to the particular forum, where the proceedings are conducted, and other factors. Cosult an attorney, and/or support group

Calculation of child support

Child support may be figured in different ways in different states. If you were in my state (NC) I would send you to the Child Support people in the Clerk of Court's office. They would give you the forms and instructions to figure out you child support. It is not always an easy calculation, but you should be able to do it if you work at it. In NC you don't necessarily need a lawyer to pursue child support. It is a fairly simple process. They could probably tell you about it at your local courthouse. Good luck! And, in NC, people who refuse to pay child support, or who are too "sorry" (as we say in the South) to do so, may go to jail for contempt of court. So, around heree, the judges are quite serious about child support.

Texas Calculation is Quite Simple

The court in which you obtained your divorce would be the court of continuting jurisdiction over the child(ren). If that court is in Texas, then the calculation of child support is actually quite simple. The statute contains a chart from which the amount of "net resources" is determined. One merely takes the Gross income and deducts the federal withholding from that to obtain the net resources figure. Then that figure is multiplied by the percentage which is determined by the number of children involved. For example, one child would result in a multiple of 20% time the net resources. The larger the number of children, the larger the percentage. Note that this is the minimum support available. The Court is empowered to increase that amount under certain circumstances. Also note that "net resources" maxes out at $6000.00 per month.