Child Support

Within North Carolina, child support may be filed on behalf of a minor child by any parent, person, agency, or institution having or seeking custody. Generally, the amount of support is based on the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines, which use a mathematical formula to calculate the amount of the child support obligation. The determining factor, among a few others, in setting a child support amount is the number of nights a child stays with each parent. A knowledgeable attorney can answer your questions regarding child support and the possibility for modification.

Once a parent is obligated to pay child support, it may be paid directly from one parent to the other, through wage withholding, or through centralized collections in Raleigh. Although a nonparent with custody of a minor child may request and receive support for the child, a parent cannot request and receive child support from a nonparent third party unless that third party agrees to pay that obligation of support in writing. The individual receiving the child support payment is also entitled to claim the child on his or her federal and state taxes.

In order to set the child support obligation, the number of overnights and the parties’ income must be established. Income is defined as a parent’s actual gross income from any source, including, but not limited to, his or her salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, overtimes, dividends, severance pay and gifts.

Child support may be calculated on a parent’s potential, rather than actual, income under certain circumstances. Such as where one parent is either unemployed or underemployed, is physically and mentally capable of providing the minimum level of support for himself/herself and his/her children, and that the parent’s unemployment or underemployment is the result of the parent’s bad faith or deliberate action in order to avoid or minimize his or her child support obligation. Under these circumstances, a parent cannot escape his or her responsibility and will have income imputed to him or her.

Child Support Modification Lawyer

As with child custody and visitation, a court order setting child support may be modified upon a showing of a substantial change of circumstances. However, child support payments shall terminate upon the occurrence of certain situations, including:

The minor child turns 18 years of age
The minor child becomes emancipated
The minor child dies
If the minor child is still in primary or secondary school when he or she reaches age 18, support payments shall continue until the child graduates, otherwise ceases to attend school on a regular basis, fails to make satisfactory academic progress toward graduation or reaches age 20, whichever comes first, unless the court in its discretion orders that payments cease at 18 or prior to high school graduation
The parent responsible for paying child support dies
The custody of the minor child is changed to the party who was paying the support obligation