Charlotte Divorce Lawyer BlogThe revised North Carolina Child Support Guidelines will have a new section which addresses retroactive child support. The guidelines will allow for retroactive child support to be determined either by applying the guidelines formula or by consideration of actual expenditures of the custodial parent. If retroactive child support is determined by the guidelines formula, then the formula will be run with the variables (parties’ income, health insurance costs, work related childcare costs, and overnights) as they were on the first date for which retroactive child support is sought. For example, if the custodial parent is seeking retroactive child support back to January 1, 2009 then the formula would be run using the variables as they were on January 1, 2009.
Articles Posted in Child Support
North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Changes – Applicability and Deviation
The new North Carolina Child Support Guidelines will be applicable to all child support cases (or modification of child support cases) heard on or after January 1, 2011. There will now be a provision which explicitly indicates that they are applicable to actions brought under North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 50B (Domestic Violence Protective Order Actions). The provision addressing the guidlines’ applicability to retroactive child support will be removed and there will be a new section added which addresses this topic.
North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Updated
The North Carolina Conference of Chief District Court Judges is required by North Carolina General Statutes 50-13.4 to review the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines to ensure that they provide for appropriate child support judgments. The child support guidelines were last reviewed in 2006 so they were again reviewed this year.
Check out the North Carolina child support calculator by clicking here.
Alimony and Child Support Payments in the Public Eye
Although their divorce is finalized, the aftermath of the divorce proceedings still continues in the North Carolina Court of Appeals for NASCAR Chair Brian France and his ex-wife, Megan. Brian’s lawyers are making an unusual request – that the proceedings should be closed to the public and the couple’s divorce agreement should be kept sealed.
Court documents filed before the hearing reveal that the divorce agreement gives Megan France at least $40,000 per month in child care reimbursement expenses (including “governess payments”) and alimony, as well as a $9 million distributive award. Also according to these documents, Brian France has recently refused to make some of the required payments. Megan France also accuses her ex-husband of harassing her by hiring private investigators to follow her, and violating their agreement concerning the care of their children.
North Carolina Child Support and Gross Monthly Income
The North Carolina Court of Appeals further refined, in a case of first impression, the definition of “gross monthly income” for purposes of calculating North Carolina child support. In this case, the North Carolina Court of Appeals addressed “gross monthly income” for child support calculation purposes. Two components of “gross monthly income” were evaluated by the North Carolina Court ojavascript:void(0);f Appeals:
1) Social Security and Medicare taxes employers are required to make on behalf of an employee.
On this issue, the Court of Appeals held that Social Security and Medicare taxes employers are required to make on behalf of an employee may not be considered income for child support purposes because these payments do not provide a parent with immediate access to funds that could be used to pay child support.
Charlotte, North Carolina Child Support Attorney – College Expenses
The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently addressed, in an unpublished decision, whether a father’s lack of involvement in college choices relieves him of his responsibility to pay for college for the minor child. Under North Carolina law, the payment of college expenses is not required of parents as part of North Carolina child support. However, sometimes parents agree to pay for college expenses and include those provisions in their separation agreement.
Charlotteans Push for Changes in Child Custody Laws
Many Charlotte fathers – and a few mothers – are advocating for shared parenting time after couples divorce. A local group called Kids Need 2 Parents (KN2P) held a rally at Marshall Park on June 12 in an attempt to make “shared parenting” the presumed standard in custody law.
Although the current legal standard in child custody decisions is whatever arraignment is found to be “in the child’s best interest,” the President of KN2P, Sheila Peltzer, insists that the reality of custody battles is that the mother wins custody 85% of the time. Under KN2P’s proposed plan for shared custody, each child would start out splitting his or her time 50/50 between parents.
Members of KN2P believe that the Tender Years Doctrine, a common law theory that presumed that children of a young age are better suited to live with their mothers rather than fathers, is an unspoken bias in the law that remains today. They claim that children’s right to equal access to both parents is “the civil rights fight of this century.”
Child Support and Post Separation Support Obligations Not Affected by Religious Beliefs
Recently, in the case of Shippen v. Shippen, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a civil contempt finding against a husband who failed to pay child support and post-separation support to his ex-wife.
Shortly after the child support payments were ordered, John Lee Shippen joined the Twelve Tribes of Israel, a religious community that prohibits its members from earning outside income or owning personal assets. Instead, the sect’s members farm and provide services to one another in exchange for food and housing.
The court found that Mr. Shippen’s failure to make payments was “willful” for the purposes of the contempt order because he had the mental and physical ability to comply with the order. Mr. Shippen alleged that he acted in good faith based on his sincerely-held religious beliefs that prevented him from earning income. The court concluded that the fact that the defendant’s religious beliefs may be sincerely held is irrelevant to his obligation to pay alimony and child support.
Divorce Predictor #6: You have a daughter.
If you have a daughter rather than a son, you are nearly 5 percent more likely to divorce, according to research conducted by the Council on Contemporary Families. This statistic also multiplies with each new birth in the family. Researchers theorize that this statistic exists because fathers tend to become more invested in family life when they have boys.
View and Print our Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog Family Law Newsletter – Spring 2010
In this issue of our Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog Family Law Newsletter, we take a look at post-divorce issues such as automatic child support payments and changing beneficiaries on insurance policies and accounts. We also take a look at how taking a lower paying job will not always reduce child support or alimony payments. Finally, since it is tax time, we address which parent is entitled to take the tax deduction for a child in a split custody arrangement.
Click here to view and print our Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog Family Law Newsletter – Spring 2010:
CHARLOTTE DIVORCE LAWYER BLOG FAMILY LAW NEWSLETTER SPRING 2010