Overview
Divorce is the outcome of a bad marriage. In United States in the 90’s nearly half of all marriages ended in divorce and almost one-quarter of all children were born to unmarried parents. Children born out of such couples are the worst victims of marital discord. While in this squabble, the parents tend to neglect their responsibilities toward their children. When the divorce order is passed, the custody of the child is given to one of the parents, or to a third party when neither parent is prepared to rear the child. Child support is the payment that a noncustodial parent makes as a contribution to the costs of raising one’s child.
The duty doesn’t discriminate between genders. Both parents are legally bound to support their child after the divorce. The amount of support will be decided by the court. Biology not withstanding, both parents are equally bound by law to support the child. The ultimate aim of court by ordering child support is to provide the child with the same standard of living as that of the child’s parents, which would have been enjoyed by the child, had the divorce not occurred.
Support duty termination
The parental duty to support the child continues until the occurrence of any one of the following events: attainment of the age of majority by the child (but this may get extended in special circumstances such as, when the child is pursuing higher education or he/she has special needs), when the child joins active military duty, when the child is adopted or has been declared emancipated by the court (emancipation take place when the child becomes financially independent).
Support calculation
Child support payments in general are based on two factors, the ability of a parent to provide support and the child’s needs. Under the federal Child Support Enforcement Act of 1984, each state is required to set up guidelines to calculate the child support. In the normal course the guidelines set up by the states are different from each other. Courts are supposed to strive at fairness to the parents in the child support calculation. The courts consider various factors when calculating support which include: child’s health insurance, educational needs, day care, and special needs, the needs of the custodial parent, the paying parent’s ability to pay and the standard of living of the child before divorce.
Modification
As time passes, the requirements and circumstances of the child continues to change. The amount of child support will often become inadequate to the child. In such situations modifications to child support provisos will be made. But even the simplest alteration will require judicial approval. A modification therefore will be allowed only when the parent proposing modification is able to prove changed circumstances or enhanced requirements of the child since the previous support order. Stringent rule has been applied by the Courts predominantly to restrict frequent and recurring modification requests. Following are some instances were courts have approved modification: better job for any of the parents, alterations in the existing child support laws, rise in the cost of living and increasing needs of the child, medical emergency, loss of job by the parents, a parent receiving any additional income.
Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Clause
COLA is a clause entered in the child support order, adopted by some of the states in U.S. When COLA clause is incorporated in a child support order, it indicates that the child support payments shall increase yearly in the same phase of rise in cost of living determined by the level of inflation. When COLA clause is included in the order it eliminates the requirement for a modification request exclusively on cost of living increases. As it beats the expenditure incurred in modification petitions, the clause has turned out to be a boon to the modification petitioner. Likewise by saving time of the court it has turned out to be advantageous to the courts, as well.
Although this clause is praise worthy, there are flip sides, too. It poses impending difficulty to the payer parent, whose income does not increase along with the award, ultimately making it exorbitant for the payer. Further, it makes it hard to craft any automatic adjustments to the support order, in occurrence of changed circumstances. Still, the COLA clause has been welcomed by many states which have adopted COLA statutes and specific provisions.
