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How is Kentucky child support calculated under the guidelines?

4/30/2015

3. Welcome back! In Lesson 2, we talked about getting started and about FCRPP(9), which requires a completed child support guidelines worksheet. So, what is that, Judge?

            Well, KRS 403.211 provides that In KY, we have guidelines that constitute a rebuttable presumption for the establishment or modification of CS in KY. Those guidelines are found in KRS 403.212.

            This Lesson addresses the next question:

            How is Kentucky child support calculated under the guidelines?

            The calculations are done automatically based on the monthly gross income of the parties via a website, www.csws.chfs.ky.gov.

            I have prepared for a better understanding a sample worksheet (Exhibit 3) to calculate the support for the two children of our hypothetical couple, Mother and Father. For our purposes here, Mother earns $3,000 per month in gross income, and Father earns $6,000 per month. As you can see, in this case, Father would be required to pay Mother $967 per month in child support only.

            Please note that a bold red line has been drawn under the entries on the worksheet for base monthly support. Frequently, a parent (and occasionally even a lawyer) looks at the bottom line, paragraph 13, and gets confused about the amount of "child support" which must be paid. The amount of "child support" to be paid here is $967, Father's percentage of the total "Base Monthly Support," or 66.7 % of $1,450. The significance of this distinction will be explained in later Lessons.

            Now you know a little bit about how child support is calculated in Kentucky under the guidelines.

2. What do I do to obtain a Kentucky Child Support Order?

4/29/2015

2. Welcome back! Let's say you want to get a Child Support Order requiring the other parent of your child to pay you child support. The question we address in this Lesson is: What do I do to obtain a Kentucky Child Support Order? In other words, let's get practical: How do I get started?

KRS 403.211(1) requires that "An action to establish or enforce child support may be initiated by the parent, custodian, or agency substantially contributing to the support of the child. The action may be brought in the county in which the child resides or where the defendant resides."

A Petition to establish child support is filed in the court clerk's office. A summons is to be issued by the clerk and served on the Respondent to notify him or her of the request, and the Respondent is required to submit a response to the Petition within 20 days of service, or he or she is considered to be in default.

If a Petition has already been filed (for divorce, for example) and there is an ongoing case between the parties, a Motion to Establish Child Support must be filed. Some of the specific requirements for filing a Motion to Establish or Modify Child Support are found in Family Court Rule of Procedure and Practice (FCRPP) 9(4), which provides:

"(a) A motion to establish or modify child support shall be accompanied by the following:

(1) A completed child support guidelines worksheet.

(2) Copies of the movant's last three pay stubs or, if movant is self-employed, proof of the movant's current income.

(3) The most recently filed federal and state income tax returns.

(4) Verification of the cost of health insurance for the child(ren) only.

(5) A notice of hearing accompanying a motion for child support which shall contain the following statement: "You must file with the Court, at least 24 hours prior to the time of the hearing, a completed child support guidelines worksheet, and copies of your last three pay stubs or, if self-employed, proof of your current income and the most current federal and state tax returns.

(b) The responding party is to similarly file the financial information at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.

(c) All parties shall exchange said information 10 days prior to the hearing.

(d) In addition, counsel shall certify, prior to the hearing being held, that reasonable efforts were made to resolve all the issues in dispute."

If there is a question about paternity of the child, DNA testing may, depending on the circumstances, be ordered by the court in order to determine whether the man named as a Respondent is in fact the father of the child. KRS 406.011 provides (among other things):

"A child born during lawful wedlock, or within ten (10) months thereafter, is presumed to be the child of the husband and wife. However, a child born out of wedlock includes a child born to a married woman by a man other than her husband where evidence shows that the marital relationship between the husband and wife ceased ten (10) months prior to the birth of the child."

Presumptions are just that, and they can be rebutted by credible and admissible evidence. The question of whether certain evidence is credible and admissible will be carefully examined by the court, and this Lesson does not offer insight concerning the myriad of issues that are addressed in this determination.

Clear? If not, the Lessons that follow are intended to elaborate and clarify, but in the meantime, now you know a little bit about how to request a child support order in Kentucky.

1. Who is required to pay child support in Kentucky?

4/29/2015

1. I think it most appropriate that we begin our series of Lessons with this threshold question: Who is required to pay child support in Kentucky?

The first statute to consider is Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 405.020, which provides: "The father and mother shall have the joint custody, nurture and education of their children who are under the age of eighteen (18)." That statute has consistently been interpreted to authorize a court to require either the father and the mother, or both, to pay child support.

KRS 403.213(3) clarifies this obligation: "(P)rovisions for the support of a child shall be terminated by emancipation of the child unless the child is a high school student when he reaches the age of eighteen (18). In cases where the child becomes emancipated because of age, but not due to marriage, while still a high school student, the court-ordered support shall continue while the child is a high school student, but not beyond completion of the school year during which the child reaches the age of nineteen (19) years."

Kentucky law also provides for the parent to support his or her child who is wholly dependent because of a physical or mental disability.

Not to over-simplify, but anyone who is subject to a valid Kentucky Child Support Order is required to pay child support in Kentucky! Child support can be ordered regardless of whether the parent has physical or legal custody of the child. It can be ordered in a divorce case, a paternity case, a custody proceeding, a case involving the neglect or abuse of a child or a domestic violence case.

A child support obligation is terminated only when a court orders it to be terminated. It does not stop simply because the parent is in jail or prison, loses his or her job, ever visits with the child, or has lost the right to visit with the child. It does not necessarily even stop when the parent dies! Are you kidding me? No, see KRS 403.213(3)!

In the next 24 Lessons, we will examine some of the most common questions about the law that I ruled on as a judge in determining whether to issue a valid child support order, how much was to be paid, and how to modify and enforce those orders.

Now at least you know a little bit about who is required to pay child support in Kentucky, so have a great day!

Child Support Questions and their publish Dates

4/29/2015

1. Who is required to pay child support in Kentucky?
Published April 29, 2015

2. What do I do to obtain a Kentucky Child Support Order?
Published April 29, 2015

3. How is child support calculated under the guidelines?
Published April 30, 2015

4. What is considered to be “gross income” for child support calculations?
To Be Published May 5, 2015

5. How do I find out what the other parent's income is?
To Be Published May 6, 2015

6. What about income from self-employment or business income?
To Be Published May 7, 2015

7. What if a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed?
To Be Published May 13, 2015

8. What if one parent is paying maintenance?
To Be Published May 13, 2015

9. Is there an adjustment to a parent's "gross income" if he or she is supporting a prior-born child?
To Be Published May 13, 2015

10. What happens in a split custody arrangement where Sissy lives with Mother and Jr. lives with Father?
To Be Published May 20, 2015

11. When can a judge deviate from the child support “guidelines”?
To Be Published May 20, 2015

12. When the parents' combined monthly adjusted gross income exceeds $15,000 per month, how is child support to be calculated?
To Be Published May 20, 2015

13. How does Kentucky law deal with the big-ticket item of childcare expense?
To Be Published May 27, 2015

14. Do parents have to maintain private health insurance for their child, and if so, who pays for it?
To Be Published May 27, 2015

15. Who pays for deductibles and co-pays and how do we deal with extraordinary medical expenses not covered by the insurance?
To Be Published May 27, 2015

16. How does a parent actually recover the proportionate share of extraordinary medical expenses from the other parent?
To Be Published June 3, 2015

17. What if I find out the other parent has not been paying for childcare even though I have been paying for my share?
To Be Published June 3, 2015

18. How do I get a modification of child support in Kentucky?
To Be Published June 3, 2015

19. When does child support terminate?
To Be Published June 10, 2015

20. Is a Wage Assignment Order required for child support in Kentucky?
To Be Published June 10, 2015

21. What does the court do about child support when the child spends a considerable amount of time with both parents?
To Be Published June 10, 2015

22. What is involved in collection of child support?
To Be Published June 17, 2015

23. How does the law deal with enforcement of the child support order when my ex and I live in two different states?
To Be Published June 17, 2015

24. If Kentucky does not have jurisdiction over the other parent of my child, what is the UIFSA process to deal with establishment, enforcement and modification of child support orders?
To Be Published June 17, 2015

25. What about parents who were not husband and wife to each other when their child was born?
To Be Published June 24, 2015

Judge Schrader's Top 25 FAQs About Kentucky Child Support

4/28/2015

After having served for 8 years as a Family Court Judge in Fayette County, I returned to private law practice. As a Judge, I was responsible for thousands of child support matters every year, and I learned that even though a lot of money was on the line, most people who came to court had very little knowledge or understanding about Kentucky child support law. Especially when there is more than one child, the child support in question was often more than the monthly rent or mortgage!

   Because of this shocking lack of understanding, and because I am not aware of any similar program, I am pleased to be able to present this free series of lessons that will familiarize the lay person with the essentials of Kentucky child support. You have already seen my list of the 25 most common questions about child support. I will present through this blog my answers to those questions, two or three at a time, over the next several weeks.

   Before we begin, let me state the obvious. I will offer my knowledge and my insight as a former Family Court Judge concerning Kentucky Child Support Law in this series, and I am not creating an attorney-client relationship by this offering. Feel free to use this information as you will, but understand that I am not presenting any opinions as the attorney for the reader. I am not giving legal advice to anyone here, but am simply explaining in general terms the law regarding Kentucky Child Support.

   Kentucky Child Support is governed by statutes enacted by the Kentucky Legislature, by rulings made by appellate courts which interpret those statutes and by rules enacted by local courts and the Supreme Court of Kentucky. These laws change from time to time as new statutes are enacted, new appellate court rulings are rendered and new rules are promulgated. The information I will present in this series applies to the law in general as it stands as of April 15, 2015. I do not necessarily intend to update this series as the law evolves, so the reader should keep that in mind as he or she considers and uses the materials I am now presenting.

   One final word of caution - many of these laws are the subject of great debate and controversy among lawyers and even among judges. There is often room for interpretation as cases frequently present different versions of contested facts, and each judge looks at evidence from his or her own unique perspective. When in doubt about a Kentucky child support issue, do not rely on what you read here - consult a lawyer! SCR 3.130(1.1) of the Kentucky Code of Professional Conduct requires that a lawyer provide "competent representation to a client" which includes "legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation." The lessons presented here are an overview, and more understanding of the laws, and the procedures required to present an argument in court, may well be required to achieve the desired result in the event of a dispute.

In this series, we will consider a generic married couple, Mother and Father, and their two children, Jr. and Sissy. The law concerning unmarried parents will be discussed more specifically in the very last Lesson, No. 25, but most of what is presented in the other 24 Lessons will apply to them as well.

   Thanks for working through these Lessons. I hope they are beneficial to you.

How is Kentucky child support calculated under the guidelines?

2. What do I do to obtain a Kentucky Child Support Order?

1. Who is required to pay child support in Kentucky?

Child Support Questions and their publish Dates

Judge Schrader's Top 25 FAQs About Kentucky Child Support

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