- Divorce & Family Law Practice Areas
Child support is provided by Minnesota law for parents who separate, divorce, or never married. There is no rule of thumb for answering the question parents have of how much child support they will receive or pay. But a knowledgeable and experienced child support lawyer can provide the specifics for calculating the amount.
Child Support Basics
Child support considerations may be a significant focus of divorce, custody, or paternity matters. Under Minnesota law, parents have a financial responsibility to support their children.
Child support is the court-ordered payments for support providing the ongoing payment from one parent to another to help pay for the essential day-to-day needs of a child.
These needs include:
- Housing
- Food
- Clothing
In general, parents who do not live together can ask for a court order to establish the amount of child support. If a third-party, such as a grandparent, has custody of a child, they may ask for a court order for child support from one or both parents.
Types of Support
Spousal maintenance can be ordered by a judge during a divorce to keep the receiving spouse from suffering financially during the proceedings. Either spouse can ask the court to order spousal support paid to them. Generally, a court is more inclined to order a longer period of spousal support when the marriage was long-term, and the receiving spouse is less likely or unable to become self-sufficient.
There is no mathematical formula for spousal support calculations in Minnesota. The law allows the judge to consider certain factors when deciding the amount of maintenance for the requesting spouse.
These factors include:
- Basic child support (housing, food, clothing).
- Medical/dental support (insurance premiums and non-covered expenses)
- Childcare expenses
Determining child support obligations can be a complex process. Guidelines and formulas are unique for each state. Other factors and considerations can further complicate matters.
For example:
- Understanding gross income versus potential income
- Other non-joint children
- Whether one party pays spousal support
- Percentages of parenting time for each parent
- Additional orders for child support
- Which party carries insurance and costs of dependent premiums
- Childcare expenses
- Public assistance
How Child Support Is Calculated
There are three parts to child support. These are:
- Basic support: These payments are for a child's housing, food, clothing, transportation, education, and similar expenses to care for the child.
- Medical support: Payments to provide for health and dental insurance, the costs of health and dental insurance provided by the other parent, and payments for the costs of uninsured or unreimbursed medical and dental expenses.
- Childcare support: Payments for daycare when parents are at work or school.
Minnesota law uses the Child Support Guidelines to compute the amount of child support by using the gross income of both parents, the number of children, and the number of overnights each parent is granted in a court order.
Questions concerning child support do not only come up when the child is born or when parties divorce. Parents may need to review child support determinations when circumstances such as income or expenses change.
An experienced child support attorney at Bolt Hoffer Boyd Law Firm can help you understand the complex nature of child support and determine a course of action to fit you and your family. Whether you are paying child support or receiving it, we will be with you every step of the way.
If you have questions about setting, modifying, paying, enforcing, and terminating child support, contact Bold Hoffer Boyd Law Firm at (763) 406-7000 for a free initial consultation with a child support lawyer.