Child support is a complicated subject that is often the source of major conflict in family law cases. Indiana has detailed child support guidelines and a child support calculator that can be found on the Indiana Supreme Court’s website. Determination of a party’s income can be complicated, and might include overtime, bonuses, commissions, and second jobs. There are various approaches for calculating income, depending upon the support payor’s occupation, earning history, education, earning capacity, etc.  There is a parenting time credit for any parent who exercises at least 52 “overnights” with his or her child, so child support is tied closely to custody and parenting time. It may be necessary to determine which parent is going to pay the “controlled” (i.e. baseline) expenses for a child.  Other issues include the cost of health insurance premiums for the child, daycare expenses, and whether one or both parties have other children and/or other support obligations.  

The Supreme Court has mandated that its trial judges follow its support guidelines and that a child support worksheet or worksheets be done in every case.  In general, domestic relations judges do not care how parties decide to divide their assets and liabilities in a divorce case, but the typical family law judge cares deeply about – and scrutinizes carefully – the child support calculations. Except in child-sharing cases (in which parties share the child equally), it is rare for a Court to approve a “no support” agreement between the parents.  Courts typically view child support as “the child’s money,” and typically see it as their obligation to make sure appropriate child support is paid for every child.

A federal law known as Title IV-D established a national network of child support prosecutors whose job is to represent parents in the establishment and modification of child support.  Unless child support is being addressed by private attorneys in a divorce, paternity, or modification case, the use of the federally-subsidized prosecutors may be a cost-effective way of establishing, modifying or enforcing a child support order. Of course, the prosecutors represent the state and not the individual litigants, so they technically do not provide individual legal advice. They do not get involved in custody or parenting time disputes, so these issues have to be resolved outside of the county’s Title IV-D court.  There are some advantages and disadvantages to using this government service, so it is best to confer with a private attorney before pursuing this option.