“In almost all cases where there are children, the court orders that child support be paid to the custodial parent (CP). Parents have a duty to support their children, and this duty is a serious legal obligation (FC 4250). There is a statutory guideline for the determination of the amount of child support, and there are several important principles relating to child support determinations, such as: (1) the interests of the child are the state’s top priority; (2) a parent’s principle obligation is to support his or her children according to the parent’s circumstances and station in life; (3) both parents are mutually responsible for the support of their children; (4) each parent should pay for the support of the children according to his or her ability; (5) children should share in both parents’ standard of living; and (6) in cases where both parents have high levels of responsibility for the children, child support orders should reflect the increased costs of raising the children in two homes and should minimize significant disparities in the children’s living standards of the two homes. (In re marriage of Schlafly (2007) 149 CA4th 747.)
The state guide formula must be used to determine the amount of chid support to be paid, unless the “application of the formula would be unjust and inappropriate” (FC 4055(b)(7)). The data necessary to utilize the formula is: (1) the income of the parents and (2) the amount of time that each parent spends with the children, which is called timeshare. (Timeshare is the time that is spent with the minor children and is usually calculated by determining the number of days in a year that a parent spends with the minor children. The number of days is then divided by the number of days in the year, 365, in order to get a percentage of time. Parents can, and often do, dispute this figure. Sometimes the timeshare calculation can be determined by the number of hours that a parent spends with the children with that number divided by the number of hours in a year, which is 8,760. The timeshare information can be ascertained if the parent kept a record of the number of days or hours that the children were with him or her.)
In almost all cases, the noncustodial parent (NCP) will pay the child support for the minor children to the CP. The NCP is then the payor or obligor; the CP, or the person that receives the support for the minor child is called the payee or obligee (FC 3550).
Parents are legally obligated to contribute to the support and care of their child until that child reaches his or her majority. The parents of a minor child have an equal responsibility to support their child in the manner suitable to the child’s circumstances (FC 3900). This equal responsibility does not mean that the parents are obligated to pay the same amount of child support. It is the responsibility that is equal, not the amount of the child support.
The parents’ duty of support imposed by FC 3900 continues for an unmarried child who has attained 18 years of age, is a full-time high school student unless excused due to a documented medical condition, and who is not self-supporting until the time the child completes the 12th grade or reaches 19 years of age, which occurs first (FC 3901(a)(1)).
If a parent has the duty to provide for the support of his or her child and willfully fails to so provide, the other parent, or the child by guardian ad litem, may bring an action against the parent to enforce the duty.
Parents have a duty to provide health insurance for their children.”
(LW Greenberg, California Family Law.)
