How Child Support Is Calculated On Your Pay Check
91Child Support Garnishment Through Payroll
Regardless if you have been recieving a child support garnishment on your pay check for some time now, or if it has just been set up, understanding the child support calulator your employer uses can be confusing. Employers are required by state child support enforcement to follow strict rules when it comes to how to calculate child support deduction.
They are given detailed order paperwork from state CS enforcement offices that outlines the child support calculator equation they are required to use to calculate your child support
Your employer can not change the amount nor can they legally help you avoid paying your child support garnishment. Nothing you bring in to your employer can change your child support garnishment amount. They are mandated to follow only the rules and guidelines set by the child support garnishment as set by the state child support enforcement office.
Other Considerations
Short of contacting your Child Support Enforcement Officer requesting a reevaluation of your child support amount, or getting child support lawyers there really isn't much you can do to lower your support amounts.
Your employer must by law follow the order as it is written or they could face stiff fines. They can not skip a child support payment for you just because your having a hard time with cash this week or pay less towards the deduction because a large advance was given to you. The child support will still be taken from disposable earnings, and you may be left with little, nothing, or even left owing your company money.
Your Child Support Payroll Deduction
If your child support order is regulated and distributed by the state child support enforcement office you live in, unless other arrangements such as by getting help child support lawyers, your child support garnishment will come out of your paycheck.
When your employer receives a child support garnishment in your name this notice is forward to your companies payroll department. The payroll department then sets up the automatic child support garnishment so that with every payroll, the correct amount of child support will come out using automated or manual child support calculators.
The amounts that are to come out of your check for your child support garnishment are not determined by your employer or the payroll company. Strict guidelines are set forth in child support order that details the child support calculator equation your employer should use to calculate how much to withhold from each of your payroll checks.
When there is not enough income earned to satisfy the child support garnishment amount requested by your states child support enforcement agency, a payroll calculation must be done to determine how much to withhold from your paycheck.
The calculation used to calculate your child support garnishment amount takes into account whether you have back taxes owed, or are supporting another family. The percentage to withold in this instance is determined and set by the state and not determined by your employer. Child support can take 50%, 55% 60% or up to 65% of your disposable income. Most often, it is 50%.
Disposable income is not the same as Gross or Net income. Disposable income is income left over after taxes have been taken out and before any voluntary deductions
THE FORMULA Your payroll department will take into consideration first whether your disposable income already exceeds the percentage allowable for withholding. If it does not, the following formula will be used.
Gross - taxes = disposable income
disposable income ÷ set percentage (50% -65%) =
deduction amount.
For instance.
If child support amount is $550 a month your gross is $1200 and your taxes are $200 it would look like this.
$1200 - $200 =$1000 disposable income
$1000 ÷ 50% = $500
$500 will go towards your towards your child support because anything more would exceed the amount allowable.
The other $500 goes to you.
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Comments
I've been told by the non custodial parent that they were taking out more than they were allowed so I would pitty him. Though I doubt it was true, I have found many laws aren't inforced. I started a campaign to bring awarness to this topic also. I have my site listed on here if you want to see what I've dealt with.
4change, it does happen that CS is calculated incorrectly. With that said, if he felt payroll was calculating his cs wrong, then he should have called them. If the did and they said it was wrong, they would have to correct the problem (this does not neccesarly mean that the amounts already deducted will be corrected, just that the future amounts will be looked at more closely) of verify it was done the way the order outlined, then he should have called the enforcement agency, if he did call them and they said that it was being done right, then tough for him.
Many people don't understand that it is not half of the net pay, it is half of disposable income, and this can confuse many. Rarely would CS be calculated incorrectly over and over. Don't pity him. I'll check out your site soon :)
i think the way they do child support is improper how do they expect someone to live off of that little income say for instance the guy will bring home 500 and the women makes the same she will recieve 1500 thats 3 times the amount that the guy will earn
and another thing when i went to child support i want to know how they call go off of your gross income instead of what you acually bring home well i guess it really doesnt matter its not fair period i pay 960 a month for my kids and i bring in 1720 before taxes one optoin im comeing close to doing is not paying and go to jail then i am garanteed a place to stay and 3 meals a day
I just find it really funny that men complain that they have to pay child support. You had that child...you should have to pay for them. Gosh, the woman is taking care of the child by feeding them, bathing them, taking them to sports and school...all you have to do is send a check. I think that's getting off easy actually.
We have the child and still pay child support.Go figure that one out.
I raise my son. My wife has nothing to do with him. She pays no support. She doesn't see him. Nothing. Didn't stop her from claiming him on her taxes, though.
I'm not going to complain about child support in the form of having to pay it. I am, however, going to gripe a bit about how laws concerning support are set up. For example, various states will only look into a reassessment after X number of years. So you may be working a job making $3,000 a month when your payments are assigned, lose that job, and wind up making only $1,200 a month, let's say a year and a half later. Perhaps even another child later. You're now raising another child, you're making considerably less money and trying to eke by, and you have to suffer through that rate of payment, unable to hire a lawyer due to making so much less money and paying out so much. The state refuses to review your case without it going through the courts. Your state's legal aide won't help you. What do you do?
And yes. I'm speaking from experience. I have a daughter with an ex-girlfriend. She lived in "state A". I live in "state B." She moved from "state A" to "state C," though "state A" still continues to collect the support for her. I cannot get legal aide in "state B" because the support is collected in "state A" and I can't get legal aide in "state A" because I live in "state B." I also cannot afford a lawyer. I haven't even been able to afford a divorce from my wife. My son and I have to live with family because, frankly, we can't afford to live due to the unwillingness of these various states to work with us in our situation. I can't even get legal aide for the divorce because my wife never abused me. It's rediculous.
Some people understand the need to pay support. Some people are willing to pay what they can. But when the system put in place refuses to bend to work with these people who want to make things right, it creates problems and only serves to hurt all parties involved.
And please don't say "it's always men" who gripe, because my wife would rather die than pay for our son. Don't say that "men don't ever pay" or the likes, because I have no objections to paying support for my daughter, even though I haven't seen her in over a year because she lives too far away. My wife lives an hour away and hasn't seen our boy since 3rd quarter last year.
I apologize for my little rant at the end and the length of my post. ;)
i am a mother of 2. one of my children's fathers pays support. the other does not because he refuses to work. i dont complain about how much or how little i get from them. i had actually told both of them to give me what they thought they could afford to and still have money to live on. i do think that support is calculated unfairly. my daughter's father supports 3 kids and ends up living on $120 a week. barely enough to pay his bills. i dont think that's fair even though i only get $70 a week from him. and my son's father, well i have told him repeatedly to just give me even $20 a week and i'd be happy, but he refuses so now i'm in court for that.
but even with my boyfriend. he has 2 kids from a previous relationship. we pay $141 a week! and end up with $140! now tell me how it's right that the court takes half a paycheck each week? not only that, she gets food stamps, free medical, free school & daycare for the kids, and works one day job and an under the table job as well and makes about $300 a week. to make it worse, she lives with my boyfriend's mother for only $300 a month! and has no other bills. so not only does she get free food, daycare and medical and live for next to nothing, she ends up with $900 of her own money every month and then has the $564 we pay her left over while we struggle on $140 a week and cant even pay all our bills every month!
i think the courts should take into account how much money the mother makes and what her expenses are as well as the father's. they make you fill out financial affadavits for your income and expenses, however they dont count your expenses or the mother's financials for anything! they just take the father's pay and tell them how much they have to pay without caring if the mother makes triple what the father does but has 1/3 of the expenses! the courts need to start making laws that are fair for both parents not just the mother.
Yeah, my life really suck right now too. I pay required expenses wheere I live with my 69 year old single mother father passed 8 years ago and have struggled to my worst. I have a child with the woman I loved and wanted to marry. When we conceived the child, due to bad conditions at her home she went to live 250 miles away and cheated on me, then caught herpes, which THANK GOD I did'nt get. I no longer wanted the relationship but wanted to see the child. She refused and basically wanted me to just deal with her STD and be happy. Now she does'nt keep in touch with me and is always taking me to court and I pay 150.00 a week off of a 440.00 week gross. I cannot live or even continue my eduacation due to this money hungry woman. She told me she will make me pay for not staying with her, because I cant accept a cheater. I have no money to live on now and am considering just going to the other side. When life isn't worth living anymore, why try when you are burdened with communist monkey on your shoulder. I am a person who never fell behind on payments and carried myself with pride and have just lost hope and cant pay anymore. If I die the child will get Social Security from me and I can rest in peace from this slow grave digging process.
FIRST OFF...NOT TRUE...NOT TRUE....GO SPEAK TO A ATTORNEY....THEY CANNOT TAKE 50%....GEEEEEEZZZZZZZ.....PEOPLE READ A BOOK...DONOT LISTEN TO FRIENDS AND IDOITS.....LOL......THE HIGHEST STATE IS NY AND THEY TAKE 17% OF THE NOT CUSTODIAL PARENTS PAYCHECK...EACH STATE IS DIFFERENT..BUT NY IS THE HIGHEST....WHEN YOU HEAR THEY TAKE CAN TAKE 50% DONOT BELIEVE IT...NOT TRUE....ACTUALLY STUPID MISINFORMED....SEEK A REAL ATTORNEY....LOL
Dave7007 with pleasure I will respond in stating that your response is entirely incorrect. Not only can payroll deduct 50% of disposable pay, but they actually can deduct up to 65% depending on the state the order is issued it and whether the non-custodial parent owes back support and is supporting a (new) family. It's been my experience that many states just use the lowest 50% amount.
You number of 17% is ridiculous. A typical credit garnishment has the right to take 25% of disposable income.
Though I do not know your motive for posting ramblings of inaccuracy, but it's been a pleasure to respond.
Some fathers do have the right to complain. How about my boyfriend who left his wife for being a cheating b**** adn she took the kid and disappeared for 3 years. Do you think the state takes that into consideration when they take half his paycheck away and he has to live off top ramen wondering where the hell his daughter is?? NO they dont. Or the fact that the mom (who recently reappeared) doesnt work herself AT ALL? NO. And ya some bosses do mess up payroll. My bf was getting $100 dollar paychecks for a long time.
As an employer who has to deal with CS garnishments and also being in a relationship that my husband has his wages garnished I can say more often than not it is the male parent who gets the royal rip-off. They go to court and getted treated like dirt even when they are trying to do the right thing..often they deal with employers that are unclear about how to actually calculate cs and often they have no where to turn. Are there deadbeat dads out there-sure just as there deadbeat moms.
My rm mate recently got hit for child support from years ago, from where her mom got families first on her youngest daughtewr, she was liveing with her grandmother by choice not court order, becauseshe has accecce to credit cards,cell phones etc, And now the state is takeing half my rm mates checks and she is partialy disabled and can only work part time, im haveing to pay most of the bills myself(i wonr abandon her and kick her out), she may work about 3-4 days a month, wich leaves her hardly anything at all to live on, she has to collect foodstamps , this picture just doesnt seem right at all, is there anything she can do?
I have two girls and I pay $880 a month in support. In 2008, I kept my girls over 50% of the time and i still had to pay support. I am 90% sure that my ex make more money then me and my two year divorce anversery is coming up and my bitch of an ex has already said that she will take me back to court to get more money from me. I am not sure what i can do. I did not have that much on an increase in pay that would make that much of a difference to what i am paying now, but it is the principle of it all. I am still trying to pay off the debt that we got ourselves into when we were together and live at the same time. If it was not for my wifes paycheck I would not make it. OH! Did I mention that she wanted the divorce and is pitter as hell right now after 2 1/2 years of being apart.
What can I do to stop her from keeping me down. I play a major role in my girls part and want to be able to provide for them when they are with me, but i can not...... UGGG!!!!
Any help would be appreciated!!!!!!
Thanks,
Well, I am actuially pretty excited reading this. being a single mother for 4 years. and my kids father paycheck goes to weed, liquor, hoes, and hotels. he 33 years old living with his mother in a 6 bedroom and 4 bathroom housem living his life. while i am over here struggling, with these 2 kids. and im their mommy and daddy. i cant wait til that day, when half his check gone. LOL!his momma boy self gona be crying
Let me begin by saying that the bias against men is completely unfair. People shouldn't generalize their opinions on child support because some bad apples don't take responsibility for what they created. I have one child. I gross about 450 a week. After taxes, about 320 a week. I owe 140 dollars a week in child support. I am as much a part of my sons life as his mother will allow me to be. How can I survive off 180 a week? I have bills to pay too. She makes 750 a week and adds my support to that. Thats almost 900 a week. We have roughly the same amount of bills to pay. The difference is, she has to feed my son. I eat at least as much as the two of them by myself, which I cannot change without starving myself. I am in great shape and definitely not a glutton. Any of the discriminating women that read this, feel free to justify it. There is no justice in our child support laws!
Well i can say i am so tired of child support..... he is paying 130 every paycheck .. well he only gets payed.. 260.. you can see were the problem starts .. we have a son who lives with us.. and to be honest... some days i wonder how we make it... he was Starving before we got together he didn't have enought money for the bills and food... .. no ONE CAN LIVE ON 130 a week... we won't get married cause i don't want to pay the back childsupport from when he was looking for a job last year.....
note: his ex wife is a manger at a restraunt and has remarried and moved to another state....so we don't even see the little boy
megan. i am in the same situation kind of. I was making about 700 a week when my wife decided she was tired of being married (due to bills accumulating and me not taking her out often because we had a little boy to raise now) and she moved out, within a month had a guy living with her, now they have a house together. Well my dealership closed down (good ol GM) and i took the only job i was able to find which only pays me 260 a week before taxes. CS takes 55% of my check, leaving me with 95-103 dollars a week to live on. She is a para-legal, makes about 700 a week, her boyfriend makes close to 1800 a week. my rent is a mere 370 a month, and thats for a trailer, which is even more than i can afford. so the math = 103 a week max, $412 a month. - 370 for rent, thats $42 a month i have to get groceries, gas, and pay my vehicle payment (used and cheap but not enough cash to buy reliable transportation), electric (averages 90 month) .. im already in debt almost 350 a month now, and thats just basic living expenses. If i lose the roof over my head, and my vehicle, i obviously cant work, so they will throw me in jail for failing to pay, and that is where i will be spending most of the next 15 years i guess. My child was no mistake, I loved my wife and planned to be together, she walked out on me, because new guy made more money and could take her out and give her nice things. Yet I am about to lose everything because of her decision. I have been told by 2 attorneys there is nothing i can do because the state is only taking the minimum 55%. it is what it is.
In my case, my wife cheated and was physically abusive. She listed herself as single on myspace.com and went out on dates. She did this blatantly in front of our two kids. She also suffered from depression and bi-polar disorder and was on SSD. She is also the daugher of a very well off family and never worked with me to live within a budget or within our means. Instead, her idea of working together was picking up the phone to call Mommy and Daddy for more money. It was disgusting to me and I endured 12 years for the sake of the kids, and because I believed in the vows we took and chalked off her behavior as part of her mental illness. Unfortunately, I had to draw the line when she started going outside of the marriage to meet up with strange men. It hurts me terribly to see what this has done to my children, but I have no choice. Divorce is now pending and the support costs are clearly skewed to favor the mother. I have no issue with paying. My problem is that the mother will not properly care for the kids. My kids have missed over 22 days of school while on her watch and the state of New York does not consider that academic neglect because neither of my kids are failing. This ordeal has cost me my family and my home and now half of my salary as a result of support plus extras. The most telling part here is that the support provided is not audited to make sure that the mothers are properly appropriating the funds. My ex will be sure to use it to go out and get more tattoos and the kids will go without healthy meals and be allowed to stay up until all hours of the night. CPS finds nothing wrong with her behavior. Her lawyer is the same lawyer used by Mia Farrow, paid for by her very wealthy family. I accept that I have to endure some difficult times and I intend on getting through this part of my life with my head held high and my heart strong. I have faith in a higher power and I am certain that this path is necessary despite the hardship. In the long run, it will make me stronger. In the short term, it is frustrating to make a good living and have to give half of it away to somebody that is clearly going to be wasteful and immature. I fear for my kids well being. I am trying to be the most attentive, loving, and nurturing father that I can be, but it is difficult when the mother refuses to act like a parent and is more interested in acting like a friend to the children. I am doing what I can, but it is eating me alive to watch my children be destroyed by a woman who refuses to acknowledge the damage she has done and continues to do. I feel powerless and broken inside, like an empty abyss that has had the life sucked out.
To all you women who are saying child support is fair. How about this?:
We have count ordered Joint custody. That is a 50/50 split of time. She chose not to work when we were together and still chooses not to work now that she is "on her own". Because she chooses not to work, I have to pay her child support. Keep in mind, I have my child as much as she does. That means, I feed, clothe, bath, and take care of the baby as much as she does. It's a 50/50 split, but somehow the court has decided that a woman can not take care of herself, but the man can. In fact the man can take care of himself, his half of the child, his ex and her half of the child. How is that fair? I would gladly ditch the 50/50 if I could get full custody. I want my child. Oh but even if I had full custody, I'd still have to pay her child support. Again, HOW IS THAT FAIR?
You know what I find amusing? All over the internet there are these same kinds of postings.....women complaining that men don't pay enough in child support, or the more liberal ones telling men to just shut up because the woman is the one having to raise the child and men only have to send checks. And on the mens' side you have complaining about the absurd amount that is forced upon them to cough up each month, and there are the men who have the child, and then complain about the mother not sending in the payment. But of course you also have the women who appear to be understanding of the men who have to pay the insane amount of child support forced upon them. And you also have men who complain that the women that they are with aren't getting any child support from the father of the kids. And so on and so forth...back and forth it goes.....
The truth is simply this....if you do have children, then you should support them. But have we all forgotten that support from a parent doesn't only com in the form of money? Obviously the courts have. And many of you parents clamoring for more money from the other parent that you don't truly need ought to be a crime. That's right I said it. Male or female. Mother or Father. If you are laying on your butt all day long and the only thing that you do all week that could even pass for work is getting off your sofa and walking over to the mailbox to look for your check that the other PARENT worked so hard for then you should be arrested and thrown in jail the same as a parent who didn't pay their child support would. Because in my eyes....you "parents" are the ones that are committing the crime here. Who are you to be complaining about anything? When is the last time that you FINANCIALLY supported anything or anyone....or even yourself? (Now keep in mind that I'm not talking about everyone, but if you think that I might be to you, then I probably am.)
The thing is this.....people only agree with the child support laws if they are the ones that are receiving it. In the same turn most of the people that you hear complaining about it are the ones that have to pay it or they are in a relationship with someone that does. Men always complain doesn't even come close to the truth. Yes there are things that are wrong with the system, but until they change (if ever) we are all stuck with our butts out in the wind. And we are going to be divided into 2 columns......those that are getting shafted and those that aren't. But realize before you open your mouths that people are getting shafted on both sides of the field. Those that pay are typically (not always) forced to pay much more than really is necessary if the other parent is working too. And on the other side we have those that aren't getting paid what they really DO need to support their children. This is why we have such a problem. There isn't a "one size fits all" solution to this thing. Just try to make the best of what you have. I know that it sucks at times on both sides, and I realize that it can be hard. But honestly.....what can we do?
maybe in Washington its that way but in CA they are only allowed to take up to 40%. But they are money hungry and look for any way to tax you. They also like to charge a month ahead so it always says you have one month of arrears, so it always looks like you are behind one month. I have been dealing with San Diego Child Support for the last 7 years because of my hubbys older kids...SD-DCSS is a pain in the butt!!!
The Texas Family Code contains guidelines for the computation of child support. The guidelines are specifically designed to apply to situations in which the obligor's monthly net resources are $7,500.00 or less. In such cases, the court presumptively applies the following schedule: 1 child is 20% of Obligor's Net Resources, 2 childrend is 25% of Obligor's Net Resources, 3 children is 30% of Obligor's Net Resources, 4 children is 35% of Obligor's Net Resources, 5 children is 40% of Obligor's Net Resources, and 6 or more is Not less than 40%
yeah most of them are up to but no more than 40%.....
Susan in Florida says:
18 months ago
Thanks for the information on child support payroll deductions. I hear a lot of complaints from non-custodial parents, mostly fathers, about how much support they have to pay. It seems like they think the court just makes up the numbers for the amount to be paid.
I have the opposite problem, I am still waiting for the State to issue an order for support--over one year and counting!