Indiana child support obligations are controlled by the Indiana Child Support Rules and Guidelines. The attorneys at Bernhardt Phillips have experience dealing with all types of child support matters and will help to ensure you get the best possible child support obligation for your circumstances.
The Indiana child support calculator uses both parent’s gross weekly income, along with a number of other factors, to determine a recommended weekly child support obligation. While this may appear to be simple, in practice it hardly ever is as simple as it may appear. What happens if a parent doesn’t work, or was recently laid off? Do you include bonuses, overtime, or commission? What do you do with self-employment income or other business income?
Every case is unique, and the attorneys at Bernhardt Phillips have extensive experience dealing with Indiana child support matters. We can answer all your questions and help determine your options to address your child support order.
Determining a parent’s gross weekly income is different in every situation. At the most basic level we would take an individual’s hourly rate and multiply it by the number of hours worked for the week, or simply divide an individual’s salary by 52 weeks. However, this is just the start. Does an individual receive bonuses, overtime, or other irregular income? What about other perks of employment? Should they count towards gross weekly income, and how do we calculate their value? The family law attorneys at Bernhardt Phillips can answer all these questions for you.
On the child support worksheet, a parent will receive credit for child support paid for any prior-born children. You also have the ability to include any legal duty support paid. Parents will also want to include the number of children born after the children are addressed by the current order as they will get a reduction applied to their income for the number of children.
Another factor addressed by the Indiana child support calculator is the amount a parent pays for alimony or spousal maintenance. A parent will have their income reduced for the purposes of calculating child support based on amounts paid for alimony or spousal maintenance. Make sure to provide your attorney with information about any other divorces or child support cases to ensure that you are receiving all the proper credits.
The amount a parent pays for work related childcare can have a major impact on the recommended support obligation. That is primarily because work related childcare is generally not cheap. Whether a parent actually pays work related childcare costs is a question we deal with all the time, especially with more people working remotely.
A parent will get credit on the child support worksheet for the amount they pay for the children’s medical, dental, and vision insurance. How to calculate what exactly is paid for the children solely can be a bit tricky when we deal with blended families where there are children from multiple sets of parents covered under one policy, or where a stepparent covers the health insurance. Bernhardt Phillips works with blended families every day and can help determine the appropriate numbers to use for the Indiana Child Support Guidelines.
One of the most important factors included in a child support calculation is the parenting time overnight credit. Simply, a parent will receive a credit on the child support worksheet based on the number of overnights they spend with the child on a yearly basis. Bernhardt Phillips attorneys will help properly calculate and apply the overnight parenting time credit to ensure your child support worksheet is complete and accurate.
Contact the family law attorneys at Bernhardt Phillips today for your free consultation regarding your Indiana child support matter.
