In the United States, child support is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made by an "obligor" (or paying parent or payer) to an "obligee" (or receiving party or recipient) for the financial care and support of children of a relationship or a (possibly terminated) marriage. The laws governing this kind of obligation vary dramatically state-by-state and tribe-by-tribe among Native Americans. Each individual state and federally recognized tribe is responsible for developing its own guidelines for determining child support.
Typically the obligor is a non-custodial parent. Typically the obligee is a custodial parent, caregiver or guardian, or a government agency, and does not have to spend the money on the child. In the U.S., there is no gender requirement for child support; for example, a father may pay a mother or a mother may pay a father. In addition, where there is joint custody, in which the child has two custodial parents and no non-custodial parents, a custodial parent may be required to pay the other custodial parent.
Today, the federal child support enforcement program is the responsibility of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, an office of Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services. Federal regulations promulgated pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act require uniform application of child support guidelines throughout a state, but each state can determine its own method of calculating support. At a minimum, requires each state to establish and publish a Guideline that is presumptively (but rebuttably) correct, and review the guideline, at a minimum, every four years. Most states have therefore adopted their own "Child Support Guidelines Worksheet" which local courts and state Child Support Enforcement Offices use for determining the "standard calculation" of child support in that state. Courts may choose to deviate from this standard calculation in any particular case. The US has reciprocal agreements with a number of countries regarding recovery of child support and is a party to the Hague Maintenance Convention 2007.
History Historically, the right of a child to the support of his or her parents was regulated solely by the separate states, territories, and Native American tribes.
Prior to criminal nonsupport laws, financial support could only be obtained through the doctrine of necessaries, poor law, and legal separation. Enforcement of child support obligations began in the United States as a criminal measure. The effort to criminalize failure to pay child support began in the late 19th century, with moral condemnation, the desire for stronger punishments, and the need for extradition primary factors in this movement. Whether to make nonsupport a felony or a misdemeanor was hotly contested, leading eventually to the passage of the Uniform Desertion and Non-Support Act described below. By the 1910s, nearly every state in the United States had criminal nonsupport statutes on the books.
The criminalization of nonsupport also led to a heightened role of probation officers in nonsupport judgments. Though incarceration was and still remains a popular penalty for nonsupport, early proponents of criminal nonsupport wanted a penalty that would "maximize deterrence, preserve the family...and lighten the burden on charities and the state to support women and children." New York, which authorized probation as a penalty for nonsupport in 1901, advanced four benefits to probation over incarceration: "'(1) Punishment without disgrace, and effective without producing embitterment, resentment or demoralization," (2) judicial discretion to make the punishment fit the crime, (3) "[p]unishment that is borne solely by the guilty and displacing a system that frequently involved the innocent and helpless," and (4) punishment 'attended by increased revenue to the city and by a saving in expense.'" The passing of criminal nonsupport statutes began the blurring of the civil-criminal line in child support cases that continues to spark debate among legal scholars.
The federal government of the United States became involved in providing welfare assistance to impoverished children in 1935 through the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. In turn, the federal government realized that many children were entering that program because noncustodial parents were often avoiding their fair share of the costs of raising their children, and began to develop the foundation of today's overarching federal framework for child support enforcement.
Support models States follow one of three basic models, or formulas, for calculating a child support obligation: (1) the Incomes Shares model, (2) the Percentage of Income model, or (3) the Melson Formula model.
The Income Shares Model asserts that minor children should receive the same amount of parental support as if the parents lived together. This model calculates support as the approximate share of each parent's income that would have been devoted to the child in a shared household. Calculations vary by state but essentially add both parents' income. The amount needed to support each child is then determined using basic parameters and then adjusted according to the specific case and varies by state. Finally, the support obligation is pro-rated between the parents depending on their share of the total income. In other words, if a child's custodial parent makes $2,000 a month and the noncustodial parent brings in $3,000, the noncustodial parent assumes 60% of the support obligation. The Percentage of Income model calculates support as a percentage of the noncustodial parent's income. This model assumes that the custodial parent's support is spent entirely on the child. The support amount is adjusted as in the prior model. (Note: The District of Columbia and Massachusetts apply a formula that is a hybrid, of the Income Shares and the Percentage of Income models.) The Melson Formula is a more complex version of the Income Shares model. One of its special features is a Standard of Living Adjustment (SOLA), which automatically enables the child to share in a parent or parents’ increased income. This is a six-step process which considers the children's primary support needs, child care and extraordinary medical expenses, and the SOLA. These amounts are added together, and then the courts look at each parent's minimal self-support needs and percentage of total net income to determine the support obligation. The formula is named for Judge Elwood F. Melson, Jr. of the Delaware Family Court, who developed the formula in the 1970s and 1980s.Dalton v. Clanton, 559 A.2d 1197 (Del. 1989)
Executive branch concerns President Gerald Ford issued a signing statement on signing the Social Services Amendments of 1974 on January 4, 1975. Although generally favorable, Ford expressed concern about what he saw as excessively "injecting the Federal Government into domestic relations".
State by state provisions + State Guidelines Enforcement Alabama Child Support Guidelines Division of Child Support Enforcement Alaska Civil Rule 90.3 Division of Child Support Enforcement Arizona Child Support Guidelines is based on the Income Shares model. Division of Child Support Enforcement Arkansas Administrative Order of the Supreme Court No. 10 Division of Child Support Enforcement California Family Code §§ 4050-4076 is based on the Income Shares model
The Judicial Council of California is required to conduct the California Child Support Guideline Review at least every four years. Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) provides public child support enforcement Colorado Rev. Stat. §§ 14-10-115 et seq., based on the Income Shares model Division of Child Support Enforcement Connecticut Child Support Guidelines Booklet Bureau of Child Support Enforcement Delaware Child Support GuidelinesTo/Support/?SupportChapter8.pdf {dead link|date=July 2026}} Division of Child Support Enforcement District of Columbia Code Ann. § 16-916.1, based on the Income Shares model Child Support Enforcement Division Florida Child Support Guidelines, based on the Income Shares model Child Support Enforcement Program Georgia Child Support Guidelines Office of Child Support Services Hawaii Child Support Guidelines Child Support Enforcement Agency Idaho R. Civ. Pro. 6(c)(6) Child Support Services Illinois Child Support Guidelines Child Support Enforcement Indiana Child Support Guidelines, based on the Income Shares model Child Support Bureau Iowa Child Support Guidelines, based on the Income Shares model Department of Human Services Kansas Child Support Guidelines Child Support Enforcement Kentucky Rev. Stat. §§ 403–210 to -213, based on the Income Shares model Division of Child Support Enforcement Louisiana Rev. Stat. 9:315.1 et seq., based on the Income Shares model Support Enforcement Services, Office of Family SupportBasic Child Support Tables
Each country sets its own rates for child support. Given that most states now take both parents income, the number of days children spend with each parent, and other factors such as the number of tax exemptions for children each parent is entitled to take, an algorithm is used to develop the tables in most states, rather than a simple formula.
Self Support Reserve
The tables include the concept of a Self Support Reserve (SSR). The SSR is meant to ensure that the paying parent has sufficient money to live on at federal poverty level. As of 2007, the SSR amount in Louisiana is $551/month gross income. In 2000, PSI recommended increasing the SSR to $687 gross income/month. In 2005, PSI recommended increasing the SSR to $748 gross income/month. These proposed amounts were set based on 85% of Federal Poverty guidelines for a single person.
Work Incentive
The two methods for child support put an inherent conflict into the tables. To obtain a smooth transition between the SSR amount and the percentage amounts, PSI fit a straight line between the two amounts.
To ensure that the paying parent had an incentive to earn more money, they built in a work incentive. The tables allow the paying parent to keep 10% of the net increase for one child; 9% for two; 8% for three; 7% for four; 6% for five; and 5% for six or more children.
Minimum support obligation
A minimum support order of $100/month was required regardless of circumstances.
Additions to the basic obligation
The court can increase the basic obligation to allow for 1) Net Child Care costs; 2) Health Insurance; 3) Extraordinary medical expenses; 4) and Extraordinary Expenses.
Careless or abusive application of these provisions by the courts can result in support orders that exceed the maximum garnishable amount (50% of net income or minimum wage times 30 hours) by state law.
Unemployment and underemployment
State law allows for the state to refuse to lower child support orders if a party becomes unemployed or underemployed for any reason.