Child Support

Child support affects many divorce settlements and issues may arise during and after your divorce is finalized.  As your circumstances change, or there are changes to those of your ex-spouse or children, adjustments to your agreement may be needed or other problems may arise.  If you have court-ordered child support issues, contact an attorney who can help you make sure this important benefit for your family is handled in everyone’s best interests, especially for your children.

Paying Child Support in Nevada

After divorce, if there are children, you may be required to pay child support. Child support may need to be paid even if the parties were never married to each other. This ongoing, periodic payment is meant to provide for your child’s or children’s continuing growth and well-being, and may be in addition to spousal support alimony payments. With any divorce proceeding requiring the payment of child support, the father’s paternity will be confirmed, either through a paternity test or by signing an affidavit of paternity, to prove that he is indeed one of the child’s parents, and therefore obligated to care for his child. Once legal paternity has been established or has been voluntarily acknowledged, child support may be calculated. In the case of primary custody litigation, the non-custodial parent is required to pay child support to the other parent. Child support is, according to the wording of the law, “paid by the non-custodial parent to provide for the cost of care, support, education, and maintenance of the minor child/children”. Most child support payment is done on a monthly or bi-weekly basis. In Nevada, order to calculate child support payments, each litigant is required to file a Financial Disclosure Form (FDF). The Court will use the information on the form to calculate a set amount of child support payment according to Nevada law. In the case of a joint physical custody, Courts will look at the gross monthly income of each parent. This payment is not always an even 50-50 split, however.

The basic calculations for child support payment are below:

• One child 18% of the obligor parent’s gross monthly income • Two children 25% of the obligor parent’s gross monthly income

• Three children 29% of the obligor parent’s gross monthly income

• Four children 31% of the obligor parent’s gross monthly income There is a set annual cap for how much any one parent has to pay in child support.

There is a presumptive maximum set for how much any one parent has to pay in child support. The parent paying for health insurance for a minor child may be entitled to reimbursement for one-half of the health insurance premium of the minor child. In each month, Nevada Courts may also consider other factors when setting a child support payment, such as transportation costs, childcare expenses, the responsibility for other children, etc. As a dedicated family-oriented legal practice, Page Law is experienced in negotiating child support payments as a part of separation proceedings alongside divorce, alimony, division of property, and other concerns. Contact us today for more information.