Law Office of Theresa A. Markham, P.C., Attorney at Law, Vernon, NJ

New Jersey does not use a flat percentage (like New York’s 18%/25% for 1 or 2 children, respectively). New Jersey uses its own “Child Support Guidelines.”

The Child Support Guidelines are actually contained in Appendix IX of the New Jersey Court Rules. You can find the Child Support Guidelines at http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/csguide/index.htm.

Here’s the breakdown:

Appendix IX A: “Considerations in Use of Child Support Guidelines”

Appendix IX B (Part 1): “Sole-Parenting Worksheet – Line Instructions”

Appendix IX B (Part 2): “Shared-Parenting Worksheet – Line Instructions”

Appendix IX C: “Sole Parenting Worksheet”

Appendix IX D: “Shared Parenting Worksheet”

Appendix IX E: “Net Child Case Cost Worksheet”

Appendix IX F: “Schedule of Child Support Awards”

Appendix IX G: “Schedule of Child Support Awards as a Percentage of Combined Net Income”

Appendix IX H: “Combined Income Tax Withholding Tables”

Generally (without getting into legal details), how you calculate NJ child support is:

Understand the concepts in IXA, and the case law relating to it.
Understanding the line-by-line instructions in IXB.
Completing either the Sole or the Share Parenting Worksheets, by:

Weekly pre-tax income of each party, which may be actual or imputed (i.e. a fictitious amount that is allocated to that party under the theory that that party “should be” earning that income), and includes alimony;
Deducting taxes from each party’s gross income – these tax amounts are taken from the table in IXH. [Note: “Combined Income Tax Withholding” does not mean that the two parties’ incomes are combined. It means that the table represents an approximation of the combined federal, state, social security, and other taxes.];
Adding the two parties’ net incomes together;
Looking up the Child Support Amount in IXF;
Apportioning the Child Support Amount between the two parties in accordance with each parties’ percentage of the combined income (e.g. if each party earns $1,000.00 per week after tax, then the parties’ combined income is $2,000.00, and each party contributes 50% to that combined income, and is therefore responsible for 50% of the Child Support Amount);
Making various adjustments to the Child Support Amount for items such as health insurance, daycare, adjustment for non-custodial parent’s visitation expenses, etc.

The Guidelines and/or Tables are usually revised each year.

Generally, the parties can not agree to waive child support, as it is a right of the child, not the parent. However, sometimes the parties can agree to exchange a large marital asset for child support, e.g. the non-custodial parent’s equitable distribution of the house. Also, sometimes, if the parties agree to joint physical custody, the parties can agree that each will be equally responsible for providing food, clothing and shelter for the children, and therefore, no child support payment from one to the other is appropriate.

Usually, if people are arguing about child support, it is because they do not agree on the variables that should be used in the Worksheet, e.g. imputed income, bonus monies, cost of daycare, etc., or even, which Worksheet should be used.

Remember, before making “a federal case” out of child support, try to weigh the monetary benefit you are trying to obtain against the cost of litigation. Often you will find that it is often not worth is to argue about a few dollars more or less per week, especially when you take into account the myriad of unknowns in raising a child.

After the divorce, the child support can be revised for cost-of-living adjustments/increases and/or “modified circumstances,” e.g. one party earns significantly more or less than when the calculations were originally made.

Law Office of Theresa A. Markham, P.C.

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