Effective May 12, 2010, the present Pennsylvania Child Support Guidelines will change dramatically. Those changes will affect a large proportion of parties to a support action, which may include your clients, friends, family, etc. A brief summary:
Under the present law, parties to a support action who earn a combined monthly net income of less than $20,000.00 per month pay or receive amounts based largely upon the parties’ respective incomes. The specific amounts of support are set forth in a schedule based on the average monthly amount that intact Pennsylvania families spend on the children in their household. In contrast, support orders for parties who earn a combined monthly net income of more that $20,000.00 per month are partially determined by the specific needs of the parties’ children rather than exclusively by the parties’ incomes.
The new Support Guidelines will effect change in at least five major ways:
A. The actual amounts on the Schedule of Child Support will change so that parties at the lower and higher ends of the economic spectrum may pay or receive a lesser amount of support than at present.
B. The Schedule of Child Support will now include in the grid those parties who earn a combined monthly income of $20,000.00 to $30,000.00. This means that those parties may no longer request child support amounts based upon needs rather than incomes or earning potentials.
C. The method for determining the child support obligations of parties who have a combined monthly net income in excess of $30,000.00 has been totally revamped. Instead of determining support orders based on the needs and incomes of the relevant parties, the New Guidelines set forth a three step process to determine the parties’ respective child support obligations which almost exclusively relies on their respective incomes. Thus, parties whose support orders were determined in accordance with the needs of their children may now be eligible to receive or be required to pay reduced support amounts.
D. The New Guidelines have also clarified and changed how the earning capacity of an unemployed or underemployed party is to be determined. These changes are particularly relevant in the present economy.
E. The New Guidelines also concern those with shared or split custody arrangements. The effect of those changes must be determined individually.
Please do not hesitate to contact DBYD’s Family Law Practice Group if you wish to discuss any of the above topics.