How Judges Decide How Much Child Support a Parent Must Pay
by: Iowa Legal Aid
The incomes of both parents determine the amount of child support in Iowa. The Child Support Recovery Unit and judges use charts called the Uniform Child Support Guidelines (Guidelines). There is a Guideline for parents who have one child, two children, three children, and one of the most important parts of the Guidelines is each parent's "net monthly income." To determine the net monthly income, you take the gross income (before tax income) and then can subtract many things. From gross income you can subtract:
- federal income tax;
- state income tax;
- Social Security;
- mandatory pension deductions:
- union dues;
- dependent health insurance premium;
- actual medical support paid to court order or administrative order;
- parent's unreimbursed medical expenses, not to exceed $25 per month;
- child support or alimony that is being paid and was ordered before this specific case; and
- actual child care expenses while custodial parent is employed minus the income tax credit.
- qualified additional dependent deductions (other dependent children a parent is legally obligated to support)
After this is all subtracted from gross income, the amount left is the "net monthly income." Let us take an example using the Guidelines. Information on the Guidelines is available on the Iowa Child Support website, https://secureapp.dhs.state.ia.us/childsupport/welcome.asp. Click on Support Guidelines and look at the Guideline for two children. Let us say that Mom has two children living with her, and Dad does not have any children. Let us say that Mom has net monthly income of $650 per month, and Dad has net monthly income of $1,000 per month. First, you find $650 on the left side of the Guidelines, which is Mom (the custodial parent). You then find Dad (the noncustodial parent) on the top at $1,000. Where they come together is the number 32.8. This means the order will be for Dad to pay 32.8% of his net monthly income as child support. This will be $328 every month ($1,000 x 32.8% = $328).
If a noncustodial parent receives more visitation than 127 overnights per year, this may reduce the amount of support to be paid.
You can ask the judge not to use the Guidelines to set support. For example, you can tell the judge that the support amount set by the Guidelines is too high or too low. The judge can make the support order larger or smaller than the Guideline amount. The judge probably will not do that. The Iowa Supreme Court has said to use the Guidelines except in very unusual cases. If you have questions about how the Guidelines, work, contact your local Iowa Legal Aid office or a private attorney.
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