Father Rights Law Center

Child Support

California requires that each parent take financial responsibility for the raising of their children. The amount of child support to be paid by each parent is based on the amount of time each parent spends with the child and their net income. The custodial parent usually provides the children with housing, groceries, school, clothing, health care, day care, school activities and other expenses, and the noncustodial parent pays child support to help cover these costs.

The California child support guidelines are applied to determine the monthly support amount by dividing proportionally according to each parent's income. These two support amounts are then offset to establish which parent will pay the other parent for support of the child. The level of responsibility of each parent is also taken in to consideration when applying the child support guidelines. The guidelines attempt to minimize differences in the standard of living between the homes of the parents.

Generally, the noncustodial parent will pay 25% of his/her net income if there is one child, 40% of his/her net income if there are two children, and 50% of his/her net income if there are three children. However, many other factors are taken into consideration, such as: amount of time noncustodial parent spends with children, child support or alimony from previous relationships, health insurance premiums paid by each parent, etc.

Spousal Support

Spousal support, or "alimony" was created to maintain the standard of living of one spouse after the dissolution of marriage. Nowadays, spousal support is determined on a case by case basis and is not a part of every divorce settlement. Factors taken into consideration when determining spousal support include: whether each spouse can maintain a similar standard of living as during the marriage; the skills and job market for each spouse; whether one spouse damaged future earning capacity by taking time off to raise children or tend to the house; whether one spouse supported another during education or training; whether one spouse will be devoted to raising minor children full time, and many other factors.

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Child Support Considerations