In Lee’s Summit or Kansas City an experienced divorce and child support attorney may basically pay for themselves. The difference between paying $1500 per month in child support and $800 is massive, especially when considering this could last for over 20 years in some cases. In Missouri, child support will be ordered during a divorce if the children are not emancipated. Typically emancipation occurs at age 18 but there are circumstances, such as college, which can extend the period. A more detailed discussion of emancipation is beyond the scope of this article, but is a topic that will be covered at a later date. So, what are the major influencing factors when a judge determines child support? There are numerous but the following will cover the Missouri Form 14’s broad impact on child support awards.
Prior to the adoption of the current laws involving the Form 14, child support litigation was a dark wasteland of extended argument over the exact expenses of the child. A judge would listen to extensive discussion over very minor expenses of the children. Expenses which many judges felt changed too quickly to make a solid determination of the exact expenses of the children. Conceptually, the process was very burdensome of our state’s legal mechanism and people began to seek a change. The laws surrounding the Missouri Form 14 and the current child support regime aimed to quell some of the arguments over the expenses of the children. The basic concept behind the form is that a base line child support number can be rendered by considering the incomes of the parties, the number of OVERNIGHTS, and a fairly limited number of normal child rearing expenses.
The expenses which are specifically detailed on the form include insurance and daycare for the children. Typically the cost of insurance on the children and work related day care of the children will be expenses allowed on the Form and can sway the presumed child support calculation heavily. Some children have significant insurance needs, others have significant day care needs, some have both. The form also takes in to consideration if one parent is paying child support on a child not involved in the case at hand, whether one parent is receiving child support from other children not involved in the matter, the number of children not involved in the action that are residing with a parent, and certain expenses agreed upon by the parties.
As a Divorce Lawyer in the Kansas City area it is my goal to maximize any credits or expenses that may be placed on the form. The Form 14 is intricately related to custody rights because the amount of presumed child support is greatly swayed by the number of OVERNIGHTS the parent paying child support is ordered to have. This is a major point of contention for many clients because it is often the case where one client spends significant time and money exercising a lot of visitation during the days, but the children go to the other parent’s house to sleep at night. The form is not built for this situation because the number of overnights is the direct consideration of the form and not how much time is spent with the children. There is a mechanism to go around this issue but it is a hurdle which most likely should not exist.
The presumed child support number is typically what will be ordered by a Judge unless it is found to be unjust or inappropriate. The law basically makes a form very powerful but allows Judges to overstep the law with incredible ease by simply finding the presumed amount is unjust or inappropriate for a variety of reasons. In the above mentioned scenario a judge could find that the presumed child support number that did not give a parent a solid overnight deduction because that parent spends most of the visitation time with the children during the day and they sleep at the other parents house is unjust because of the expenses incurred and actual amount of time spent with the children. The ability of a judge to sidestep the form 14 nearly recreates the previous child support regime because instead of arguing over the exact expenses of the children the argument has changed to whether the presumed child support number is unjust or inappropriate because it fails to take in to account the exact expenses of the children. In some cases it creates even more litigation over the expenses of the children because you have to litigate over the appropriate numbers which should be placed on the form 14 as well as the classic argument over the expenses of the children. But in many cases it alleviates arguments about expenses all together as parties find the number to be very reasonable.
I hope this has been informative. If you have questions concerning your divorce or child support matter then feel free to contact an experienced Lee’s Summit Child Support attorney by filling out the contact form or giving us a call.