A Parent’s Guide To Child Support - CO Courts
A Parent’s Guideto Child SupportC OLORADO D EPARTMENTOFH UMAN S ERVICESDivision of Child Support Enforcement
THIS HANDBOOK has been designed to help youunderstand how child support works. We allagree children have the right to support fromboth parents and do not lose this right whena parent is not in their home. This basic beliefis why we have child support laws.We hope this handbook helps you answer questions that you might have about child support.We would encourage you to freely communicate with your child support enforcement unit.Please ask questions and let them know if youremployment changes or if you increase yourparenting time with your children. We need tobe able to keep you informed of changes thatmay occur. To do this we need you to let usknow if you move or change your telephonenumber.Thank you for being there for your children!Colorado Division ofChild Support Enforcementi
ContentsThey’re Counting on You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Legal Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Obligor and Obligee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3The Administrative Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Establishing a Child Support Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Paternity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Divorce or Legal Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7The Child Support Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Calculating the Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Sample Worksheet A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Deviations from the Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12The Family Support Registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Duration of a Child Support Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13The Importance of Current Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Modifying a Child Support Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Enforcing a Child Support Order—the Income Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Other Enforcement Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Parenting Time and Decision-Making Responsibilities . . . . 17Mediation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Legal Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19On the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22iii
A Parent’s Guide toChild SupportThey’re Counting on YouFor your children to grow anddevelop properly, they need love andsupport from both parents. Your sonor daughter needs attention, care,and guidance from Mom AND Dad.The fact is, your children are counting on you to be there, no matterwhat your family situation may be.Your help can come in many forms: the confidence you instillin your daughter when you assist her with a school project; theunderstanding you furnish your son when he’s having a problem with his friends; and the camaraderie you share when eating ice cream cones together on a warm summer day.A critical component of your relationship with your children isfinancial support. Though not as heartwarming as being therefor your daughter’s first steps or you son’s first T-Ball game, themoney both parents provide their children is, nonetheless, a significant part of parents’ responsibility to their children. Besidesproviding for life’s more basic needs, such as food, clothing, andshelter, this money helps children expand their horizons throughactivities like piano lessons, scouting, and hockey camp. Financial support is a key component of the responsibility you haveto your children.One of the most important parts parents can play in the lives oftheir children is that of role model. Children look to their parentsfor guidance and often adopt the behaviors they see in their parents. By being a responsible parent, you can give your child invaluable lessons in respect, duty, and honesty that can last a lifetime.The money a parent provides is commonly known as “child support.” Whether you’ve been paying support for many years or1
are a new parent, this booklet explains how child support worksin Colorado. The process of establishing, enforcing, and modifying a child support order can be a bewildering maze involvinglocal child support units, courts, judges, unfamiliar legal terms,and daunting paperwork. We hope this booklet can answer yourquestions about the legal system as it relates to child supportcases, as well as how your case will be handled by the child support enforcement unit.The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) UnitDue to the continuing lack of compliance with child supportorders, the government has played an ever-increasing role in thechild support process. In 1975, the United States Congress created a national child support program. This federal effort requiredeach state to set up an organization for the establishment, enforcement and distribution of child support. In return, the federalgovernment provides states with much of the funding needed tooperate the child support program. While the focus was initiallyon recouping money states and counties paid to welfare recipients, the program now also includes families who are owed support but who are not receiving public assistance.In Colorado, the child support program is operated at the countylevel. The child support enforcement unit is typically abranch of the county Department of Social Services.You will probably encounter the term “IV-D” (pronounced “four dee”), as in “IV-D program” or “IVD case.” This phrase comes from the location of theoriginal legislation that created the child supportprogram within Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.Not all child support cases involve the child support enforcement unit. Many cases are handled byprivate attorneys or by the parents themselves withno governmental involvement. A child supportmatter becomes a IV-D case when the child anda parent receive public assistance OR a parentapplies for services from the child supportenforcement unit. Either parent may requestthat the IV-D agency become involved in achild support case.2
Legal RepresentationColorado law specifies that the child support agency representsthe people of the State of Colorado, not either of the parents ina child support case. The law goes on to say that there is not anattorney–client relationship created between a lawyer for thechild support enforcement unit and a parent whose child support order is being enforced by that agency.You are entitled to retain legal counsel at any stage of the process.A private attorney may represent you, for example, in a matterinvolving paternity, the entry of a child support order, or a modification of that order. It is up to you to determine whether youshould seek legal counsel. It is also up to you to pay the bill foryour attorney, as there are no free court-appointed attorneys available to you in a child support case. You can, however, seek theaid of free or low-cost attorneys from groups such as Legal Aidor your local Bar Association. Please see the listing of resourcesat the end of this booklet.Obligor and ObligeeA number of unfamiliar terms and phrases may crop up in thecontext of a child support matter. The glossary at the back of thisbooklet defines the most common of these for you. Two newwords merit special attention, however.The parents in a child support case can be described in severalways. The easiest words to use are probably “mother” and “father.”However, it is not always the case that the mother is the partyreceiving the child support and the father is the one paying it.You may also hear the phrases “custodial party,” “custodial parent,” “noncustodial parent,” and “absent parent.”Because these terms are often imperfect and inaccurate, the words“obligor” and “obligee” are frequently used. The obligor is theparent responsible for making the support payments, and theobligee is the recipient of these payments. These words have thevirtue of being applicable in almost every child support case,regardless of which parent is in which role.3
The Administrative ProcessAs the obligor in a child support matter, you help determine howyour case will be handled by the child support enforcement unit.The basic choice you have is whether your case will be handledas a judicial matter by the courts or as an administrative matterby the IV-D unit.The traditional route for a child support case to travel is throughthe court system. This means a formal litigation setting and allthat goes with it. There may be discovery, delays, and continuances. There will probably be lawyers and their accompanyinglegal bills. When all is said and done, the end result will be abinding child support order.Cases in the IV-D system may follow another path. Colorado lawallows the child support enforcement unit to conduct many ofthe required activities regarding paternity, establishment, andmodification without the need for court hearings. Rather, youwill meet with child support personnel in a “negotiation conference” to determine if the issues in your case can be agreed uponinstead of the case going to court. If you and the child supportunit can reach an agreement, that agreement is then filed withthe court and becomes an order of the court with the same forceand effect as one issued by a judge. As with cases pursued throughthe formal court process, the end result of a case handled administratively is a binding child support order.Your case can be handled more quickly through the administrative process than through the court system. You may also beable to avoid many of the costs associated with a full-blown courtcase. Most obligors do not pursue court proceedings after a casehas been initiated administratively.The administrative process begins when you receive a notice ofthe negotiation conference. Be sure to appear for this conference.If you fail to appear, the child support enforcement unit may seeka default order against you, meaning you would have no say inthe amount of child support you would owe each month. If youcan’t make the appointment, be sure to call the child supportoffice to request a continuance of the negotiation conference.The choice about whether to accept the results of the negotiation conference is yours. If you accept, the agreement will be4
filed with the court. If you are not in agreement, a temporaryorder will be entered. However, a court hearing will be requested.The case will then cease to be handled administratively and willbe transferred to the traditional judicial process.The administrative process has proven to be a cost effectivemethod of handling child support cases for all parties involved.It not only reduces the amount of time and money you mayspend on your case, it can also lessen your anxiety as well.Establishing a Child Support OrderBefore you can legally be compelled to pay child support, theremust be a legal determination that you are the father of the childin question and that you have a legal responsibility to providefinancial support for that child. Only then can an appropriateamount of support be calculated and a child support orderentered, either through the court system or the administrativeprocess.If you are or were married to the mother of your child or yourname appears on the child’s birth certificate, you are generally presumed to be the father of the child, and no further determinationof legal responsibility is necessary. The case can move directly toa calculation of the appropriate amount of child support.5
PaternityHowever, if you are the father and were never married to themother of your child and your name is not on the child’s birthcertificate, further action will be necessary before a child supportamount can be calculated. A legal parent–child relationship mustbe established before a support order can be entered. In otherwords, it must be shown that you are the father of the child beforeyou can be ordered to provide financial support for that child.Legally establishing the father–child relationship can be accomplished in a number of ways. You may choose to voluntarilyadmit that you are the father of the child. This can be donethrough the administrative process with the child support enforcement unit at the time of the initial negotiation conference. Youmay also have had the chance to make this voluntary admissionin the hospital when your son or daughter was born.If you are not convinced that you are the father of the child, youmay request genetic tests. These tests will be conducted on bloodor other tissue samples drawn from you, the mother, and thechild. By comparing DNA markers and other factors, the testscan prove to an almost one hundred percent degree of certaintywhether you are the father of the child. The results of the genetic6
tests can also create a legal presumption of paternity and areadmissible in court as evidence of the existence of a father–childrelationship.If you are still not persuaded that you are the father in the faceof convincing blood test evidence, you can request a court trialbefore a judge. However, you will have to show extremely compelling evidence to overcome the presumption created by a genetictest indicating paternity.Divorce or Legal SeparationWhen the question of child support arises from a divorce or separation, there is usually no question regarding the parents’ dutyto support the children. Unless you can prove that a child bornto your wife during the marriage is not yours—through the useof genetic tests, for example—you and the mother will be orderedto provide financial and medical support for that child.Remember that child support may be ordered prior to the entryof a dissolution of marriage. This can happen when a parent hasleft the family household, reducing the income that householdhad been relying upon. A support order entered in this situationis just as valid and enforceable as one entered in conjunctionwith a divorce decree.The Child Support GuidelinesAfter the determination of a parent–child relationship, the nextstep is to calculate the appropriate amount of child support. Theformula used in Colorado requires that a number of factors beconsidered in this calculation, such as the gross incomes of bothparents, the amount of time the child spends with each parent,as well as costs for items such as child care and health insurance.The formula used to calculate the appropriate amount of support is known as the child support guidelines. The guidelinescame into effect in the mid-1980s as part of an effort to makethe calculation less of a judgment call and more of a mathematical equation. Prior to the guidelines, it was not uncommonfor two fathers in similar financial circumstances to be orderedto pay much different amounts of child support, depending on7
which judge heard the case. Besides being unfair, this situationled parents to jockey for a hearing before the judge they believedwould rule in their favor. This created much uncertainty and cynicism among all parents involved in child support cases.The child support guidelines serve to take much of the decisionmaking out of the hands of individual personalities so that parents in similar circumstances now pay similar amounts of childsupport, regardless of which judge—or the support enforcementunit—does the calculation. Both parents can know ahead of timeabout how much child support will be ordered for their children.Calculating the AmountWisconsin uses a formula that bases child support on a percentage of the paying parent’s income. For example, such a formula may say that the child support for one child is 20% of thatparent’s income, 25% for two children, and so on. While thisapproach has the virtue of simplicity, it fails to take into accountthe obligee’s income and can yield grossly unfair results.Colorado’s child support guidelines follow a model used in abouthalf of the states in the country. The basic concept is that children should be supported in a manner similar to what they wouldhave been had the family stayed together. The child is said to beentitled to a share of his or her parents’ total incomes. This leadsthe formula to be called the “income shares” model.This model first computes a basic support amount based on thecombined incomes of BOTH parents. Each parent is then assigneda portion of this amount based on each parent’s percentage ofthat total gross income figure. Other expenses, such as healthinsurance and daycare, are then added in and similarly dividedbetween the parents to arrive at a monthly support amount. Theformula also allows for consideration of different parental responsibility arrangements, such as shared time and split time.Begin the calculation by adding together your monthly grossincome and the other parent’s monthly gross income. Do NOTinclude the income from your or the other parent’s new spouseor live-in partner. Gross income includes money from wages orsalary as well as income from other sources, such as commissions, pensions, interest, workers’ compensation, unemployment8
insurance, and Social Security. The gross income figure for eitherparent may be reduced by the amount of maintenance or preexisting child support payments a parent already makes.Using the combined monthly gross income figure, turn to thetable called the Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations. Findthe combined income figure in the column on the left. Next,move to the right until you reach the column for the relevantnumber of children. The number at the meeting point is themonthly combined child support obligation, not your obligationalone.The amount derived from the Schedule is then divided betweenthe parents based on their respective share of the combinedincome figure. If one parent makes 60% of the combined income,that parent will be assigned 60% of the child support obligationfrom the table. The other parent is assigned the remaining 40%.After each parent’s share of the total child support obligation isdetermined, the formula next considers certain expenses relatedto the children. If either parent makes direct payments for childcare or health insurance, these amounts are added to the earlieramounts and are also divided between the parents. The first parent, for example, would be responsible for 60% of the cost ofchild care, with the other parent paying 40%. Extraordinaryexpenses for the child, such as costs for braces or special educational needs, may also be apportioned between the parents inthis way. Finally, extraordinary income received by the child canbe listed here to reduce the overall amount of child support due.The resulting figures represent each parent’s support obligation.The parent who keeps the child at his or her residence the majority of the time is presumed to spend the amount listed on thechild, either directly or indirectly. The other parent’s number isthe amount due from that parent to the other parent as a monthlychild support payment.Finally, the Schedule’s guidelines do not apply in situations involving very low or very high incomes. If the combined monthlyincome of the parents or the obligor is 850 or less, a child support order of 50 per month will be entered. For cases involving combined monthly incomes exceeding 20,000 per month,an amount beyond that called for in the Schedule of Basic ChildSupport Obligations will be used.9
Sample Worksheet A10
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Deviations from the GuidelinesIn the overwhelming number of cases, the amount thatresults from the child support guidelines calculationis the amount of supportthat will be d
context of a child support matter. The glossary at the back of this booklet defines the most common of these for you. Two new words merit special attention, however. The parents in a child support case can be described in several ways. The easiest words to use are probably “mother” and “father.”
Downtown East Village Calgary Number Per cent Number Per cent Lone-parent families 30 100% Lone-parent families 47,330 100% Female lone -parent 20 67% Female lone -parent 36,955 78% Male lone -parent 10 33% Male lone -parent 10,380 22% Marital status Downtown East Village Calgary
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Continuum Stage 4: Engage in medium-term strategies to build infrastructure, train parents in CQI, and develop Parent Leaders 28 Principles for Financial Support of CQI Team Parent Leaders 29 Policies and Procedures for Financial Support of CQI Team Parent Leaders 30 Parent Leader Reimbursement Form 35 Basic Budget for Financial Support of CQI Team Parent Leaders 37
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