ABA Family Legal Guide

Family Law

3.4 Separation, Annulment, and Divorce

Child Support

What's an example of a support formula based on the incomes of both parents?

Support guidelines based on the incomes of both parents often are referred to as income shares models. Under these guidelines, the court first adds the income of both parents. Then the court consults a long table--or a computer program--that assesses the total obligation of support as a percentage of the combined incomes and the number of children. Generally, the percentage drops as the combined incomes rise, on the assumption that financially well-off parents spend a smaller portion of their incomes on their children than parents who are less well off. The court multiplies the combined incomes by the percent figure and obtains a dollar amount. Then the responsibility to pay that support is divided between the parents in proportion to each parent's incomes.

Here is an example using Colorado's child support schedules. Assume a father and mother have two children and a combined annual gross income of $60,000--$40,000 earned by the father and $20,000 earned by the mother. The schedules put the guideline amount for support at $13,092 per year ($1,091 per month). Since the father earns two-thirds of the parties' combined income, he would pay two-thirds of the children's support ($8,728 a year) and the mother would pay one-third ($4,364). If one parent had primary custody of the children, the other probably would make a cash payment to that parent. The parent with primary custody probably would not make a cash payment as such, but would be presumed to be spending that amount on the children.