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| Child Support as a Parents' Responsibility | | Date Added: July 05, 2010 05:31:42 PM |
| Both parents are legally obliged to support their child according to their ability to do so. Most jurisdictions have establish child maintenance guidelines, which provide a formula for determining child maintenance grounded on a proportion of each parent's gross income.
Such issues are seldom a concern for the court when parents are bound by marriage or committed relationship. But when parents divorce or live separately from their children, the courts are usually required to establish the amount of child support a non-custodial parent must pay. Like the issue of custody, this can be settled by agreement or by fighting it out in front of a judge. Child support payments, like alimony, may be incorporated into the divorce judgment or may be determined in a marital separation agreement.
Parents' other lawful responsibilities will also be taken into consideration in determining child maintenance. For instance, if the non-custodial parent is paying child support from a previous relationship, the court will take that obligation into consideration. Life necessities, including food and rent will also be taken into account by the judge. Nonetheless, the court will not reduce child maintenance payments to make it easier for the non-custodial parent to make discretionary payments. For instance, a parent cannot donate money or purchase a high-priced automobile at the expense of supporting his or her own children.
For the court to determine the appropriate amount of child support, both parents are to fill out a financial declaration that is signed under penalty of perjury. Each parent will be required to fully disclose their income, property holdings, such as current accounts, investments and real property and their financial obligations. The court will rely heavily on these documents in making the order and, hence, it is in the children's interests that the declarations be completed completely and honestly.
Those who refuse to pay child maintenance can be punished. If the custodial parent submits a complaint to the district attorney's office, the nonpaying parent can be taken to court In the USA if the nonpaying parent is found guilty, he or she may be imprisoned. Or, the guilty parent may be sentenced to probation and allowed to stay free, providing he or she repays all child support and makes all future payments in a timely manner. |
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