Charlotte Child Support Lawyer

Any person or entity with custody of a minor child may seek support for that child from the parents of the child. Although a non-parent with custody of a minor child may request and receive support for the child, a parent with custody cannot request and receive child support from a non-parent third party unless that third party has assumed the obligation of support in writing. The only exception to this rule is when the parents of the child are minors themselves. In this situation, the grandparents may be responsible for the support of the grandchild until such time as the actual parents have reached the age of majority or are emancipated.

  

Important considerations used to calculate child support:

 

• The reasonable needs of the child for his health
• The reasonable needs of the child for his education
• The reasonable needs of the child for his maintenance.

To properly determine the above considerations, due regard must be given to the following:

 

• The estates of the child and the parties
• The earning of the child and the parties
• The conditions of the child and the parties
• The accustomed standard of living of the child and the parties
• The childcare an homemaker contributions of each party
• Any other pertinent facts of the case. 

North Carolina typically requires that child support be calculated by application of the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) and that these guidelines apply a rebuttable presumption in all legal proceedings involving the child support obligation of a parent. The guidelines presume that the parent who receives child support is entitled to and does claim the child (ren) for all tax exemption purposes.

The guidelines use a mathematical formula to arrive at a basic child support obligation which depends upon the combined monthly gross income of the parents and the number of children at issue. For purposes of the guidelines, income is defined as a parent’s actual gross income from any source, including but not limited to the following:

• Income from employment or self-employment such as salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay
• Ownership or operation of a business, partnership, or corporation
• Income from rental properties
• Retirement or pensions
• Trusts
• Annuities
• Capital gains
• Social security benefits
• Workers’ compensation benefits
• Unemployment insurance benefits
• Disability pay and insurance benefits
• Gifts and prizes
• Alimony or maintenance received from persons other than the parties to the case.

Child support may be calculated on a parent’s potential, rather than actual, income under certain circumstances. These circumstances are:

• The parent must be either voluntarily unemployed or underemployed to the extent that he cannot provide a minimum level of support for himself and his children
• The parent is physically and mentally capable of providing the minimum level of support for himself and his children
• The voluntary unemployment or underemployment is the result of the parent’s bad faith or deliberate suppression of income in order to avoid or minimize his child support obligation.

North Carolina’s Guidelines also take into account pre-existing child support obligations for other children not living with the parent as well as responsibility for other children that do reside with the parent. Additional adjustments may be made by the Court for work-related child care costs, health insurance costs, and extraordinary costs. Extraordinary expenses contemplated by our laws when calculating child support must be reasonable, necessary, and in the child’s best interest. These expenses may include:

• Expenses related to special or private elementary or secondary schools to meet a child’s particular educational need
• Expenses for transporting the child between the parents’ homes.

An order for child support may be modified or vacated at any time upon the request of the Court and showing of a substantial change of circumstances.


Payments for child support shall terminate upon the earliest of the following conditions:

• The minor child turns eighteen (18) years of age
• The minor child becomes emancipated
• The minor child dies
• If the minor child is still in primary or secondary school when he reaches age 18, support payments shall continue until the child graduates or otherwise ceases to attend school on a regular basis, fails to make satisfactory academic progress towards graduation, or reaches age 20, whichever comes first, unless the court in its discretion orders the payments to cease at 18 or prior to high school graduation
• The parent responsible for paying child support dies
• The custody of the minor child is changed for the party who was paying the support obligation.

Contact Charlotte Child Support Lawyer Sir Ashley J. Harrison to schedule a consultation to discuss your situation.