Child Support Payments Restrictions and Accountability

While different states have guidelines that vary for calculating child support, all states do agree that every child has the right to financial support from both parents. Therefore, each parent must assist with some form of child support. Help understanding the difference between the child support that comes from the custodial parent versus the non-custodial parent is simple.

While the non-custodial parent, as required by state law, is court ordered to pay a certain amount of money each month for child maintenance, the custodial parent is required to combine those child support payments with money of their own to help support the child's monthly needs. This is because it is unlikely that the court ordered child support payments will cover every monthly financial need of the child.


Since calculating child support is different in each state, one must direct their attention to the state they are in to find out what the amount of the child support payments will be. In New York, their is usually a set amount of one's gross income that is given to the child.


For instance, if a couple has one child, then the non-custodial parent is usually required to pay 17% of their gross income to the custodial parent. The percentage of income goes up depending on the number of children one has and tops out at three or more. When calculating child support payments for three or more children, there is a set amount of 35% of the non-custodial parent's gross income that will be paid to the custodial parent. Both of the parents' incomes are taken into account.

Despite the geographic state in which a parent resides, calculating child support differs if the non-custodial parent is unemployed. If the non-custodial parent receives unemployment, then the child will be entitled to a portion of that. If the individual does not have any source of income, they will be ordered to temporarily pay a small monthly amount, such as $50 per month.


A judge may also order the individual to look for a job, and provide proof of this. This depends more on the family court judge than on the state guidelines regarding child support process; help understanding these various rules may be accomplished by retaining the services of an experienced attorney , if one can be afforded.

Each parent, no matter what state they live in, is held accountable for helping to financially support their children. However, ways of calculating child support can be different depending on the respective state of residence.

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