Child Support

Court Refuses to Deviate From Child Support Standards Act Requirement

A mother had filed a petition for child support. On the basis of this filing a hearing was held before a support magistrate. The magistrate initially found the father’s bi-weekly child support obligations under the Child Support Standards Act was $396.00. It was then reduced by the support magistrate to $270.00 bi-weekly. The support magistrate rendered a decision which stated that applying the Child Support Standards Act was not appropriate in this case. The basis of the magistrate’s decision was that the child spent between 35% and 40% of the time with their father. The support magistrate felt that this constituted significant time sufficient to justify a deviation from the Child Support Standards Act.

Mother Files Objection (appealed) Support Magistrate’s Decision

The mother in her appeal argued there was a significant difference between the parties’ financial resources. The Family Court Judge reviewing this matter agreed with the mother’s arguments. The Family Court Judge made new findings requiring the father to make child support payments of $436.00 bi-weekly. The Family Court Judge stated in his custody cases the amount of time a child spends with the non-custodial parent should not be the driving force for a deviation with regard to the child support payments. The court held in absence of compelling factors, a deviation in child support from the presumably correct amount was not warranted in this case.

Conclusion

In most shared custody or joint custody cases the non-residential custodial parent has to pay the full amount of child support to the custodial parent. This is true even if each of the parties spend similar amounts of time with the child or children. The father should be careful when negotiating these agreements. However, in shared custody cases if a court is unsure of who should be paying child support to the other parent the courts will generally force the parent who has greater income resources to pay child support to the other parent.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights lawyer representing fathers throughout the Metropolitan New York area for almost more than 45 years.

FATHER’S CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS DECREASED

An appeals court in Manhattan has recently reduced a child support award against the father. The appeals court, in its decision stated that the lawyer/father was not required to pay for private school “up to the cost of Trinity School in New York City,” as had been previously ordered by a trial court.

THE APPEALS COURT

The Appellate Division in it’s decision stated that the trial court “did not follow the precise requirements of the New York Child Support Standards Act by ordering Michael Devereaux to pay for the cost of private school education as well as “extracurricular activities, summer school, and weekend activities.” The Appellate Court found there was insufficient support in the record for payment.”

The appellate Court found although Mr. Devereaux stated his intention to give his child “the best of everything” when living with his wife, this was not a basis for an award above the basic child support amount. The appellate court went on to state: “there is no record that the child has any special needs or gifts” which would be the basis of Devereaux paying above the standard child support amount. The Court also stated that tuition at a private school such as Trinity could cost as much as $45,000 a year.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights attorney representing fathers with regard to custody, support and visitation matters throughout the metropolitan New York area.