Seven Facts About the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines

New Jersey child support guidelines were created with objectives of providing a sense of uniformity when it comes to the financial support of children as well as a means to lower tensions when it comes to this important issue in divorce and related proceedings. There are seven key points that you need to generally understand when it comes to the New Jersey child support guidelines:

• Primary factors to determine child support in New Jersey
• Expenses covered by child support payments
• Defining parental roles when selecting a child support worksheet
• Changing child support order
• Termination of child support
• Requesting child support in New Jersey
• Legal assistance in establishing or changing child support

While a variety of factors can come into play when calculating child support in New Jersey, there are a number of primary elements that are utilized to calculate a child support obligation. These factors include:

• Income of each parent
• Daycare expenses
• Medical insurance expenses
• Social Security benefits
• Living arrangements associated with children
• Other factors court might deem applicable

Child support is designed to provide the needs of children born in a marriage or that have been recognized in a paternity action. Child support exists to advance the best interests of a minor. With that in mind, the New Jersey child support guidelines are designed to cover certain types of expenses through regular and recurring payment:

• Cover basic necessities that include housing, food, clothing
• Health insurance
• Fundamental education costs like school supplies and transportation
• Extraordinary medical costs and expenses
• Childcare expenses
• Visitation-related expenses, including travel
• Other costs deemed necessary to support the bests interests of a child

The specific role parents play in regard to a minor and child custody impacts which child support worksheet will be utilized in a particular case. When it comes to computing child support, New Jersey has created a child support worksheet for a situation identified as sole parenting. In such a situation, a custodial parent primarily is responsible for the day-to-day needs of a child.

The other scenario involves shared parenting. In that situation, parents more equally are involved in the physical custody of a child.

A child support order can be changed, altered, or modified in certain situations. For a modification to be warranted, there must be a change in circumstances that is considered substantial or major. In the alternative, an unanticipated life change of consequence must be demonstrated.

In New Jersey, a judge automatically reviews the sufficiency or appropriateness of an outstanding child support order. Such a review is to occur every three years, according to New Jersey law.

As a general rule, child support payments continue until a child turns 19 or graduates from high school. Many people presume this is always the termination date for child support in New Jersey.

In fact, there are instances in which child support payments continue beyond the age of 19. Child support payments can continue for at least some time beyond the age of 19 if there are unique physical, emotional, or psychological challenges faced by a minor child. In such cases, there needs to be a voluntary agreement between parents for payments to continue or continuing payments need to be ordered by the court. Also, if the child is attending full-time vocational school, college or graduate school the termination date can be extended to the age of 23.

You can apply for child support in NJ by filing a non-dissolution action which is a non-divorce filing or you can request child support in a divorce action. If you file for divorce and you need child support quickly you can file a motion for pendente lite support, to receive support while the divorce is pending.

On some level, the creation and implementation of the child support guidelines is intended to make everything associated with determining how children should be financially supported “easier.” With that said, when it comes to the application of the New Jersey child support guidelines, the process can prove challenging and even quite complex in some cases. For this reason, when an issue arises regarding establishing or changing child support, professional assistance from experienced legal counsel like the legal team at the Law Offices of Peter Van Aulen allows you to best protect your interests and those of your children. You can reach the Law Offices of Peter Van Aulen by calling (201) 845-7400.