Child Support Bullet Guide (Part 1): Temporary Orders and Guidelines

Mr. Darren Shapiro tries to offer as much guidance and support as possible to clients and people navigating the world of family law. Sometimes this means working with people on their divorce, child custody, or child support cases. Other times, it means providing useful information that may help people to make better decisions about their future.

If you’re familiar with this website, you’ll know that it’s home to many different articles and connected to our blogs that can provide useful information on divorce and family law cases. However, if you don’t have time to search through those articles for the information you need, you may find the bullet-point guides produced by Mr. Shapiro to be a little easier to digest.

This post marks the beginning of a new bullet guide focused specifically on child support. This section will cover some introductory information on the guidelines for child support amounts and how they’re decided. It also discusses the concept of temporary support.

The courts of New York follow a specific formula when deciding an appropriate amount for a child support payment. The formula, dictated by the Child Support Standards Act, helps the court to figure out how much money should be awarded to a less-monied spouse with custody of a child. The money paid should be designated specifically for the care of the child.

• As Mr. Shapiro advises his clients, calculating the right level of support for a child in New York divorce cases requires the courts to examine various factors. The judge will look at the gross income of the parties and consider the specific deductions that may reduce the amount of cash each person has available to them. Deductions may include FICA taxes, local taxes, child support payments to other children, and so on.
• The New York courts will also consider the amount that a person is receiving or paying for maintenance costs from a current or previous divorce cases. There are various other deductions that can be found in the statute that offers child support guideline information.
• Following the determination of a gross income for each parent involved with the case, the courts will set a pro-rata share of income between the two parties, which allows them to determine how much each of their shares or the total income each party makes.
• If a mother was responsible for $80,000 per year, and a father made $20,000, the mother would have a pro-rata share of 80%. The guidance for percentage shares of child support is 17% for one child, 25% for two children, or 29% for 3 children. For four or children, the amount is 31%.
• Additional costs may need to be considered for things like childcare expenses, education, and healthcare, among other things.

If you’ve read through some of the other articles on this website, you may have heard of Pendente Lite motions, which allow for the temporary order of certain conditions and payments. Temporary motions are common in a divorce in a New York State Supreme Court. This motion allows for the person who may be the less monied spouse to get assistance while dealing with the court case.

• Pendente lite orders may cover a variety of things, including parenting time, custody, temporary residence requirements for the children, and even attorney costs for parties and children in a case. The orders made “temporarily” during a case won’t always continue following the settlement of the divorce.
• In some instances, people in a divorce may request other temporary orders that aren’t linked to finances. For instance, someone might want to use the family home exclusively during the divorce. This could be a common solution if there are risks evident to family members living in the same household with a certain person.
• Common temporary orders for a divorce case usually involve temporary maintenance, and child support. Childcare expenses, as well as costs regarding healthcare, education, and temporary counsel fees are all additional things that may be considered in this case. Mr. Shapiro often helps his clients in family law cases to make or oppose requests for orders that are temporary.
• The area of child support can be a complicated one for any family to deal with. When children are involved in the end of a marriage, it’s important to ensure that the right strategies are put into place to protect the best interests of those children. However, many clients don’t know what’s reasonable to ask for when they need assistance caring for a child.
• A case involving a discussion of child support will require a dedicated child custody and divorce lawyer who can provide guidance to the party in question. Mr. Shapiro can discuss unique needs with any client in a divorce case, whether they’re requesting permanent or temporary orders for the benefit of the child.

If you have further questions about the topics referenced above, then please feel free to either search through this website for additional answers or get in touch. Our office is available for free initial consultations lasting for up to 30 minutes. You can arrange your consultation using the contact form on this website or reach out over the phone at (516) 333-6555.