Child support in Austin, TX is one of the vital issues that you will have to deal with if your divorce involves a child. It’s essential to determine which parent should bear the responsibility of making child support payments.
While the court may decide either or both parents should financially support the child, in most cases, child support in Texas is required to be paid by the non-custodial parent. In other words, the parent that spends the least amount of time with the child pays for child support.
Determining the Amount of Child Support
In normal circumstances, the amount of child support payments must be based on a percentage of the income of the non-custodial parent. In the state of Texas, child support guidelines are available to help you estimate how much your child support may be.
Although parents have a choice to pay a child support amount that exceeds the guideline amount, they cannot mutually agree to pay a lesser amount. The family court in Texas will anyway approve the payments. Sometimes, a situation may be such that the amount based strictly on the guidelines may be unfair to a child or the parent. In these cases, the court will reassess all the factors and may adjust the child support amount as needed.
Divorcing couples should also be aware that just because one parent may be required to pay child support, it does not relieve the other parent of all the financial costs related to the child’s upbringing. The law related to child support in Austin, TX assumes that the custodial parent will spend the child support payments automatically through their daily costs of raising the child.
Using the Child Support Guidelines
Using the Child Support Guidelines
Calculating the child support amount based on the guidelines in Texas is a fairly straightforward process after the non-custodial parent’s income has been determined. However, the key is to correctly determine the paying parent’s net monthly income.
To determine the net monthly income, you will have to make specific deductions from the gross income amount. For the purposes of child support in Texas, income will include all the salary, wages, commissions, overtime, tips, and bonuses.
If the paying parent is unemployed, they might still have some income in the form of severance pay, workers’ compensation award, or retirement or unemployment benefits. Alimony, rental income from property, as well as income arising from prizes or gifts will also be covered. In addition, the court could assign a notional income value to an asset that is not income-producing at present, such as a second house, if it finds it appropriate.
Sometimes a parent may choose to be unemployed or underemployed solely for the purpose of avoiding child support payments. In these cases, the court could impute income to that parent on the basis of what they should potentially be earning. Certain assets such as capital raised to run a business are usually excluded from the child support calculations.
Get Peace of Mind With an Experienced Child Support Attorney in Austin, TX
No matter the area of focus, the right family law attorney in Austin, TX can make all of the difference in the world. When choosing a family law attorney in Austin, choose the very best.
The Law Office of Willie & Dasher has extensive experience serving the people of Austin, Texas in all matters of family law, and we stand prepared to serve you as well. To request a consultation, call 512-478-0834 or complete our online contact form.