Child Support - What's Included?

[John]

I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.

What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.

Thank you very much for any information.

[Sunny]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 14:43:49 -0400, (John)
wrote:

>I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
>children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
>and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.
>
>What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
>to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
>up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
>the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
>support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.
>
>Thank you very much for any information.

You can pay as much as you want to pay, but you are only required to
may up to a maximum of 25% of your gross income, period. Housing IS
included in the child support calculation. The only other item you
might be required to provide is health insurance. Homeowner's
insurance is your ex-wife's responsibility, as are the mortgage and
property taxes. It's up to her to pay the bills, not you. You're
already doing your part.

[Sunny]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 14:43:49 -0400, (John)
wrote:

>I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
>children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
>and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.
>
>What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
>to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
>up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
>the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
>support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.
>
>Thank you very much for any information.

You can pay as much as you want to pay, but you are only required to
may up to a maximum of 25% of your gross income, period. Housing IS
included in the child support calculation. The only other item you
might be required to provide is health insurance. Homeowner's
insurance is your ex-wife's responsibility, as are the mortgage and
property taxes. It's up to her to pay the bills, not you. You're
already doing your part.

[Bob Whiteside]

"John" > wrote in message
...
> I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
> children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
> and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.
>
> What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
> to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
> up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
> the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
> support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.
>
> Thank you very much for any information.

One of the giant vagaries of child support is the fact most states don't
publish a legal definition of what "child support" means. Additionally, the
states don't publish how the CS calculation methodology was determined. The
closest data we have available is the amounts single mothers report they
spend for children expenses in the USDA's annual expenditures on children
survey. For your use I have converted the dollars spent to percentages so
you can use them in your analysis. Keep in mind these percentages include
what the mother's say they spend out of their gross income plus child
support ordered which equates to both parent's contribution paying for the
children. And the percentages are based on two children aged 15-17 for a CP
with gross income plus CS of under $36,000.

Housing - 35.25%
Food - 22.05%
Transportation - 12.50%
Clothing - 12.08%
Healthcare - 6.46%
Childcare/Education - 3.65%
Miscellaneous - 8.01%

But there is a hidden cost that NCP fathers face that you may not have
considered yet - increased taxes. First the CS is taxable to the NCP father
and tax-free to the CP mother. She will also get the child exemptions on
federal and state tax returns by default, and unless you address the issue
of interest and property taxes she will also get those deductions too. And
your filing status will change significantly from married to single, while
her tax status will change very little from married to head of household.

To demonstrate how these tax changes work, when I got divorced in 1986 the
combined impact of all of those tax changes caused my net income to drop
$450 per month. So I ended up paying CS out of a net income that was
significantly less than what I had while married. On the flip side, my ex
had all the tax benefits I listed and her combined Federal and state income
taxes were less than 4% of her gross. I looked at the tax increase I paid
as hidden alimony because I was subsidizing the government allowing her to
pay almost no tax.

[Bob Whiteside]

"John" > wrote in message
...
> I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
> children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
> and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.
>
> What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
> to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
> up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
> the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
> support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.
>
> Thank you very much for any information.

One of the giant vagaries of child support is the fact most states don't
publish a legal definition of what "child support" means. Additionally, the
states don't publish how the CS calculation methodology was determined. The
closest data we have available is the amounts single mothers report they
spend for children expenses in the USDA's annual expenditures on children
survey. For your use I have converted the dollars spent to percentages so
you can use them in your analysis. Keep in mind these percentages include
what the mother's say they spend out of their gross income plus child
support ordered which equates to both parent's contribution paying for the
children. And the percentages are based on two children aged 15-17 for a CP
with gross income plus CS of under $36,000.

Housing - 35.25%
Food - 22.05%
Transportation - 12.50%
Clothing - 12.08%
Healthcare - 6.46%
Childcare/Education - 3.65%
Miscellaneous - 8.01%

But there is a hidden cost that NCP fathers face that you may not have
considered yet - increased taxes. First the CS is taxable to the NCP father
and tax-free to the CP mother. She will also get the child exemptions on
federal and state tax returns by default, and unless you address the issue
of interest and property taxes she will also get those deductions too. And
your filing status will change significantly from married to single, while
her tax status will change very little from married to head of household.

To demonstrate how these tax changes work, when I got divorced in 1986 the
combined impact of all of those tax changes caused my net income to drop
$450 per month. So I ended up paying CS out of a net income that was
significantly less than what I had while married. On the flip side, my ex
had all the tax benefits I listed and her combined Federal and state income
taxes were less than 4% of her gross. I looked at the tax increase I paid
as hidden alimony because I was subsidizing the government allowing her to
pay almost no tax.

[Blatt]

"Bob Whiteside" > wrote in message
>...

> One of the giant vagaries of child support is the fact most states don't
> publish a legal definition of what "child support" means. Additionally, the
> states don't publish how the CS calculation methodology was determined.

Relevant to the above, a few days ago I posted the following query to
the alt.child-support ng, but nobody seemed to have any ideas:

"I was helping a student compile a state-by-state spreadsheet
comparison of child support provisions and was wondering if what we
were seeing could possibly be true: that California is by far the most
generous of all 50 states and 5 territories, with no maximum, so that
the mother who is jobless would get an infinite amount of support
(i.e., 12.8% without limit) from the father, whereas in other states
there is a cap. Thus, in New York, there is judicial discretion to
award the legal 17% figure (for one child) on more than $80,000 p.a.
of disposable income.

"Other countries (the UK for example) have limits on the pattern of
(but greater than) New York's (disposable income of up to GBP 100,000
p.a., charged at 15% for one child).

"No wonder that Liz Hurley and others have made a bee line for
California...

"Any anomalies the student should know about?"

[Blatt]

"Bob Whiteside" > wrote in message
>...

> One of the giant vagaries of child support is the fact most states don't
> publish a legal definition of what "child support" means. Additionally, the
> states don't publish how the CS calculation methodology was determined.

Relevant to the above, a few days ago I posted the following query to
the alt.child-support ng, but nobody seemed to have any ideas:

"I was helping a student compile a state-by-state spreadsheet
comparison of child support provisions and was wondering if what we
were seeing could possibly be true: that California is by far the most
generous of all 50 states and 5 territories, with no maximum, so that
the mother who is jobless would get an infinite amount of support
(i.e., 12.8% without limit) from the father, whereas in other states
there is a cap. Thus, in New York, there is judicial discretion to
award the legal 17% figure (for one child) on more than $80,000 p.a.
of disposable income.

"Other countries (the UK for example) have limits on the pattern of
(but greater than) New York's (disposable income of up to GBP 100,000
p.a., charged at 15% for one child).

"No wonder that Liz Hurley and others have made a bee line for
California...

"Any anomalies the student should know about?"

[Chris Owens]

John wrote:
>
> I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
> children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
> and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.
>
> What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
> to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
> up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
> the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
> support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.
>
> Thank you very much for any information.

It is typically assumed that 25% of a family's expenses are for
housing. However, before you start down this path: It is
really, really risky to start offering money outside the support
agreement. It's even riskier to attempt to reduce the amount of
the support agreement by some outside amount you are paying.
Please talk to your lawyer.

Chris Owens


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

[Chris Owens]

John wrote:
>
> I live in NY state, where the child support requirement is 25% for two
> children. I have verbally agreed to paying the mortgage, realty taxes
> and homeowners insurance in addition to providing child support.
>
> What I need to know is, how much of child support is already allocated
> to housing costs? There must be some guideline that was used to come
> up with the standard percentages, and I'm certain that some portion of
> the housing costs I'm agreeing to pay are already included in child
> support. I just don't want to pay twice for something.
>
> Thank you very much for any information.

It is typically assumed that 25% of a family's expenses are for
housing. However, before you start down this path: It is
really, really risky to start offering money outside the support
agreement. It's even riskier to attempt to reduce the amount of
the support agreement by some outside amount you are paying.
Please talk to your lawyer.

Chris Owens


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----