Child Support

If a child’s parents are divorced or separated (or even never married at all), support is be paid from one parent to the other to provide for the child’s care and well-being. Traditionally it is one parent seeking child support payments from the other parent of the child, however, a third party who has custody of a child may ask the court to order one or both parents to pay child support. Child support is to be paid until a child turns 18, or 20 if the child still attends secondary school. Minnesota has a fairly strict guideline that it uses when calculating the appropriate amount of a child support payment. The two most important items that are used to consider child support is each parents’ gross income and the amount of time each parent has with the child. Additionally, items such as child care expenses, medical insurance, etc. are used to calculate child support to make sure credit is given to a parent incurring additional expenses. Parties can agree to deviate from the standard MN child support calculator for child support, but the court can alter that agreement if the court determines it is not in the bests interests of the child. If you find yourself navigating through establishing child support, or modifying an existing order for support, contact Ken Wasche today.