Tag Archives: child support

Child Support, Divorce, General Legal, Modifications

Change, Change, Change…Change of Child Support

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I have previously blogged on the Mississippi Legislature, a.k.a. “the hissing possums” thanks to SNL, possibly taking action on proposed Child Support changes.  One such change was passed and will be in effect as of July 2013.

Senate Bill 2338 sought to increase the income levels that the child support guidelines are applied.  Child Support is a statutory amount on income. (Child Support, What you Owe).  If your income was between $5k -$50k per year, Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), the guidelines applied and the Court computed what you owed.  The new law increased the income range to $10k-$100k per year, AGI, for the Court to base Child Support. MCA 43-19-101(e)

Currently, if you make $50k per year support for one child would be around $585.  This figure is 14% of $50k.  From there the Court could skew it upwards based on the needs of the child or if you made higher income, if appropriate.  So, your obligation could range from $585 -$1,200 per month, give or take, depending on your AGI income.  The law change makes the 14% apply directly to all sums over $50k up to $100k.  So, support on $100k AGI would be $1,166.00 per month.  As stated prior, this change likely just keeps higher wage-earner’s support in line with what they are already paying and is not a substantial change, as the Court could always deviate upward, or downward, if warranted.

I think the “possums” got it right and this change, while in practical effect is not too significant, does address in some respects the low rates nationally that MS is known for.  H/T to Judge Primeaux’s blog, 12th Chancery Court District of MS.

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney in Mississippi and reminds you to pay your child support and pay it often.

Follow the blog: BowTieLawyer 

You may also contact Matthew with your family law case, question or concern at (601) 850-8000

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Child Support, General Legal, Modifications, Opinion

Mississippi Legislature Considering Tweak to Child Support

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There are a few Bills kicking around the legislature that would impact child support in Mississippi.

Senate Bill 2338 seeks to broaden the income levels that the child support guidelines are applied.  Currently, Child Support is a statutory amount (see Child Support blog) on income if your income is between $5k -$50k per year, adjusted gross income (AGI).  This bill seeks to increase the income range to $10k-$100k per year, AGI.

As the law is currently, if you make $50k per year, AGI, support for one child would be at least $585.  This figure is 14% of $50k and from there the Court could skew it upwards based on the needs of the child.  So, your obligation would likely be in a broad range from $585 -$1,200 per month, give or take, depending on your income.  This change would make the 14% apply directly to all sums over $50k up to $100k AGI.  So, support, at the least, would be $1,166.00 per month.  This likely would keep higher wage earners support in line with what they are already paying and is not a substantial change.

Senate Bill 2339 proposes a more significant change.  This skews upward all statutory amounts, as follows;

  • 1 Child  from 14% to 17%
  • 2 Children from 20% to 24%
  • 3 Children from 22% to 26%
  • 4 Children from 24% to 28%
  • 5 or more Children from 26% to 30%

So in the same example from above the parent that owed $585 would now owe $710 in support, and if both Bills pass then the amount could be $1,416 per month if the paying parent made $100k AGI.

Mississippi has some of the lowest rates nationally for child support, but also extends the obligation to (21), which is longer than most other states, which end support at 18 or 19.  SB 2339 also proposes to decrease the age for emancipation to 18, or 19, depending upon whether the child has finished high school.  This is a significant change in the law and would only apply to post July 1, 2013, Orders and Judgments.  Neither are law now and it does not appear there is a groundswell of support for either, those these changes would make Mississippi in line with most other states.

Stay tuned to see what the “Hissing Possums” pass.

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney that keeps abreast of the law and changes related thereto.  He also just used abreast and thereto in a sentence and twice referenced to hissing possums, as Saturday Night Live mockingly referred to the Mississippi Legislature.

Follow the blog: BowTieLawyer    Visit the website: Thompson Law Firm

You may also contact Matthew with your family law case, question or concern at (601) 850-8000 or Matthew@wmtlawfirm.com.

 

Child Custody, Child Support, Divorce, Irreconcilable differences, Opinion

From No Fault to Yo’ Fault

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The clever title to this blog was proposed by an attorney friend of mine that handles some family law matters, but practices extensively in other areas of law.

We were recently discussing how “No Fault” cases get derailed.  While Mississippi is technically not a true “No Fault” state, there are provisions for an Irreconcilable Differences divorce.  (commonly referred to as “No Fault,” blogged prior.)

We were discussing what gets them off track.  The parties, after getting over the initial shock of divorce, decide they will be adults and agree.  They think they can agree to the divorce and resolve their differences.   After all, they did manage to get along for 9 years, have two kids and bought a house.  What could go wrong?   Perhaps they searched online and looked at divorceyourself.com.  A very risky idea!

Well, the old adage that the devil is in the details is never truer than in divorce.  The No Fault idea gets derailed when the fellow realizes he will have to pay 20% of his income towards child support, plus health insurance and alimony. Yikes!  He realizes it’s cheaper to keep her.  (sorry for the cliché)  The wife gets squirrely when she realizes that her half of the retirement account is consumed by balancing the equity in the house, or that the money she gets cannot be realized without significant tax consequences.

Parties to a divorce don’t realize child support is until 21, not 18 in Mississippi.  They don’t know the types of custody, or what that means.  They agree to things that they cannot legally agree  to and fail to consider the consequences.  They agree to “legal terms” that do not exist in Mississippi law, because they saw it online.  And lastly, one of them is finally convinced to see an attorney by a close friend or family member and when they do and realize the consequences of what they were about to do and back out, the other side becomes angry and backs out too.  All of a sudden an easy deal becomes complicated, expensive and adversarial.

Want to keep your situation from going from No Fault to Yo’ Fault?  Do your homework, have an assessment with an attorney that practices family law, keep the peace, and be smart.

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney that can handle your divorce whether it’s your fault, their fault, or somebody else’s.  Trust the Bow Tie.

Follow the blog: BowTieLawyer

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Child Custody, Child Support, Modifications

Modifying Your Divorce Without the Court, Think Again.

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This is an all too common occurrence.  Mom and Dad get divorced, rock along and a few years down the road they decide to change their deal.  They are getting along, at least better than before the divorce, and both are burned from their past experiences with attorneys and attorney fees.  So…they decide we can handle this like mature adults.  Dad wants a custody tweak, Mom needs a support adjustment – bam-shabang– let’s just do it.

Mom and Dad agree that the Order will be “modified.”  They switch to a week-on, week-off custody arrangement.  The kids are older, it works.  Dad starts paying support directly for the benefit of the kids. He pays for the child’s car and insurance, and picks up health insurance which was previously mom’s responsibility. Dad does not pay mom directly. It’s about the same money, probably.  What could go wrong?  A lot of things!

Court Orders may only be modified by other Court Orders.  Once an Order is issued and in place the parties are bound to follow it.  This is so ironclad  that the Court has a mechanism in place to enforce its Orders that can result in the breaching party having to pay fines and/or go to jail. This process is called Contempt.  If you are not following the Order in your case, you are subject to a contempt petition being filed by the other party.

But if we agreed what’s the big deal?  The deal is that Agreement is not worth the paper its written on if it is not approved by the Judge.  At some point in the future, and it never fails, Mom and Dad have a falling out, again.  Mom goes to attorney and tells him that Dad has not paid child support in two years.  Mom sues  Dad for Contempt for all of the “back” support and then “un-agrees” to the custody change and goes back to an every other weekend schedule for visitation.   Dad counter sues for a custody modification seeking custody now due to mom’s change and contempt over the health insurance issue.  The only sure thing now is that each has considerable contempt for the other and the Court is left to sort it out.**

Dad scrambles to get his “proof” that he paid the car and insurance, but that is not what was ordered.  Mom tries to justify her position on the visitation retread because that is what the papers said, as if her hands are tied now and the “papers” know best.  Had they done an Agreed Order and had it approved by the Court, they could have accomplished the same thing and not left the door open for future problems of having the old Order used against them.  Both would have been protected and still had the same “teeth” in enforcing their Agreement it would have just been enforcement of their new Agreement.  Now both have risk and have conducted, at least, actionable non-compliance with the Court order.

If you modify your Order/Agreement do it in writing, signed and approved by the Court. It’s the only way to guaranty that the Agreement is enforceable and for protection from being subject to Contempt for not doing what was in the prior Order.

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Child Support

Child Support; What you Owe?

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Mississippi Code Section § 43-19-101 specifically details the Child Support Award guidelines.

Number Of Children              Percentage Of Adjusted Gross Income   
1                                                             14%
2                                                            20%
3                                                            22%
4                                                            24%
5 or more                                        26%

Basically you take your gross income for the year and subtract state and federal taxes, and mandatory deductions.  This leaves you with your adjusted gross income. Divide this amount by 12.  This equals your monthly adjusted gross income.  Multiply this number by the appropriate percentage and that is the amount of child support you owe.  For example. Let’s say that you make $3,250 per month, gross. First, deduct state and federal taxes, Social Security and Medicare. (State $125, Federal $200, Soc Sec. $180, Medicare $47 = $552.00 in deductions.) $3,250.00 – 552.00= $2,698.00.  Multiply this by 14%.  $2,698.00 x .14= $377.72  Your monthly obligation is $380 in child support.

Below is the paraphrased statute and includes more detailed information for child support calculations.
The amount of “adjusted gross income” as that term is used in subsection (1) of this section shall be calculated as follows:
  1)  Determine gross income. 

What is counted towards “gross income” income for child support purposes?

  • wages and salary income;
  • income from self employment;
  • income from commissions;
  • income from investments, including dividends, interest income and income on any trust account or property;
  • absent parent’s portion of any joint income of both parents;
  • workers’ compensation, disability, unemployment, annuity and retirement benefits, including an individual retirement account (IRA);
  • any other payments made by any person, private entity, federal or state government or any unit of local government;
  • alimony;
  • any income earned from an interest in or from inherited property;
  • any other form of earned income; and
  • (Not to be Counted) However, gross income shall exclude any monetary benefits derived from a second household, such as income of the absent parent’s current spouse;

2) Subtract the following legally mandated deductions:

  • Federal, state and local taxes;
  • Social security contributions;
  • Retirement and disability contributions (except any voluntary retirement and disability contributions* and most are voluntary*);
  • If the absent parent is subject to an existing court order for another child or children, subtract the amount of that court-ordered support;
  •  If the absent parent is also the parent of another child or other children residing with him, then the court may subtract an amount that it deems appropriate to account for the needs of said child or children;

3) Compute the total annual amount of adjusted gross income based on the above,

4) Divide this amount by twelve (12) to obtain the monthly amount of adjusted gross income.

5)  Multiply the monthly amount of adjusted gross income by the appropriate percentage

**The statute applies in cases in which the adjusted gross income as defined in this section is more than  One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($ 100,000.00) or less than Ten Thousand Dollars ($ 10,000.00), the court shall make a written finding in the record as to whether or not the application of the guidelines established in this section is reasonable.** (The figures above were changed by the MS legislature in the 2013 session from $5k-$50k, the above figures are the current amounts)

What else is included over and above child support?

6) All orders involving support of minor children, as a matter of law, shall include reasonable medical support. Notice to the obligated parent’s employer that medical support has been ordered shall be on a form as prescribed by the Department of Human Services. In any case in which the support of any child is involved, the court shall make the following findings either on the record or in the judgment:

(a) The availability to all parties of health insurance coverage for the child(ren);
(b) The cost of health insurance coverage to all parties.

The court shall then make appropriate provisions in the judgment for the provision of health insurance coverage for the child(ren) in the manner that is in the best interests of the child(ren). If the court requires the custodial parent to obtain the coverage then its cost shall be taken into account in establishing the child support award. If the court determines that health insurance coverage is not available to any party or that it is not available to either party at a cost that is reasonable as compared to the income of the parties, then the court shall make specific findings as to such either on the record or in the judgment. In that event, the court shall make appropriate provisions in the judgment for the payment of medical expenses of the child(ren) in the absence of health insurance coverage.

Matthew Thompson is a family law attorney in Mississippi and encourages you to have an attorney review your support obligations annually.

Follow the blog: BowTieLawyer 

You may also contact Matthew with your family law case, question or concern at (601) 850-8000

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