| This page is part of the Child Support Flaws
website. If you've reached this page and there's no index on the left, then click here to reload the page.
Child Support Suggestions
Links to suggestions on this page:
New Formula for determining Child Support
Home schooling
If you have any other great suggestions, please share them with us in the forum.
New Formula for determining Child Support
Suggested here is an alternative to the current Hortis-Valento system that many states
have already adopted. States that haven't yet adopted such a system could instead
adopt the system I suggest here, which I will refer to as the "Non-Leach" system
(one parent doesn't leach off of the other).
The tables show two systems. The first table shows 4 examples of parenting
situations under the Hortis-Valento formula and the second table shows the same 4 examples
under the Non-Leach system.
The Non-Leach system forces a parent to either physically support their children, or
financially support their children. But it doesn't force them to do more than their
share, such as in Case 4 of the first table where Parent2 not only physically supports
his/her children half of the time, but also financially supports Parent1. This is a
system that promotes CHILD SUPPORT, not PARENT SUPPORT.
Case 1 is representative of a situation where one parent has full custody and the other
parent purely pays child support.
Case 2 could be a situation where one of the parents takes the kids every weekend or every
other weekend.
Case 3 could be a situation where a parent takes the kids every other weekend and all
summer.
Case 4 is representative of a situation where both parents switch off the kids equally
(every week, bi-week, month, etc.)
In all cases, Parent2 earns double what Parent1 earns.
Current Hortis-Valento style system:
| Hortis-Valento |
Case 1 |
|
Case 2 |
|
Case 3 |
|
Case 4 |
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
|
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
|
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
|
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
| Total net monthly income |
$1500 |
$3000 |
|
$1500 |
$3000 |
|
$1500 |
$3000 |
|
$1500 |
$3000 |
| Guideline percentage required for 2 children |
30% |
30% |
|
30% |
30% |
|
30% |
30% |
|
30% |
30% |
| Guideline amount of child support |
$450 |
$900 |
|
$450 |
$900 |
|
$450 |
$900 |
|
$450 |
$900 |
| Percent of time parent has custody |
100% |
0% |
|
75% |
25% |
|
40% |
60% |
|
50% |
50% |
| Guideline amount reduced by percent of custody |
$0 |
$900 |
|
$112.5 |
$675 |
|
$270 |
$360 |
|
$225 |
$450 |
| Subtract smaller obligation from larger one |
--- |
-$0 |
|
--- |
-$112.5 |
|
--- |
-$270 |
|
--- |
-$225 |
| Monthly child support obligation |
$0 |
$900 |
|
$0 |
$562.50 |
|
$0 |
$90 |
|
$0 |
$225 |
Note that in most all cases, the higher grossing parent pays support, regardless of the
amount of parenting time.
Suggested new system, the "Non-Leach" system:
| Non-Leach |
Case 1 |
|
Case 2 |
|
Case 3 |
|
Case 4 |
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
|
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
|
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
|
Parent1 |
Parent2 |
| Total net monthly income |
$1500 |
$3000 |
|
$1500 |
$3000 |
|
$1500 |
$3000 |
|
$1500 |
$3000 |
| Guideline percentage required for 2 children |
30% |
30% |
|
30% |
30% |
|
30% |
30% |
|
30% |
30% |
| Guideline amount of child support |
$450 |
$900 |
|
$450 |
$900 |
|
$450 |
$900 |
|
$450 |
$900 |
| Percent of time parent has custody |
100% |
0% |
|
75% |
25% |
|
40% |
60% |
|
50% |
50% |
| Subtract smaller percentage from larger one |
--- |
100% |
|
--- |
50% |
|
20% |
--- |
|
0% |
0% |
Multiply Guideline amount by percentage
This is the monthly support obligation |
$0 |
$900 |
|
$0 |
$450 |
|
$90 |
$0 |
|
$0 |
$0 |
| |
| Compare to Hortis-Valento formula: |
0$ |
$900 |
|
$0 |
$562.50 |
|
0$ |
$90 |
|
$0 |
$225 |
In this system, the parent that invests more parenting time with the kids is the one
that always receives support.
Note that "Case 1" in this system is unchanged from Hortis-Valento system.
A parent with 100% custody still receives full support.
It corrects the anomaly in the Hortis-Valento system such as in "Case 3" where
the parent providing the most care basically has to PAY to care for their own children.
The larger grossing parent isn't always the one to have to pay support.
This new formula encourages both parents to share as much custody as possible. (Best
interest of children)
It also encourages BOTH parents to seek a well paying job. (Best interest of
children)
"Deadbeat parents" benefit greatly by investing time with their children.
(Best interest of children)
Encourages "welfare parents" to seek better employment as opposed to sitting
back and collecting support. (Best interest of children)
Home Schooling
Newly divorcing parents (or even parents that are already separated or divorced) should
consider Home Schooling their children as an option to enable both of the parents to spend
as much time with their children as possible.
A large barrier to parents when sorting out custody of the children is the issue of
school. It's basically impossible for children to attend more than one school at a
time, so they are usually forced to spend more time with one parent while attending
school. Home schooling the children would alleviate the problem of parents living in
different school districts.
|