How Is Child Support Calculated

If you are getting divorced or share custody with an ex-partner, the issue of child support often comes up when litigating these cases. In Missouri, child support is calculated using a document called Form 14. This simplifies the process and ensures that the calculations are fair and consistent across cases. In this blog post, we will explore the components of Form 14 so you can better understand how the court determines child support amounts.

Typically, attorneys for both parties will submit their own Form 14s based on their preferred parenting plan and how certain shared expenses will be divided between the parents. 

The first factor included is each parent’s monthly gross income. If the parents were previously married and maintenance was awarded to one party as part of the divorce, that amount will be included as well. 

Second, if one or both parents has other child support obligations owed to another party, that expense will be added to the form. It will include details such as the number of children they support, credit for other children in their custody and any child support they receive from another party. The form will then automatically calculate their adjusted monthly gross income based on these additional amounts.

The remainder of the form includes expenses for the child support in question. It will include asking about the number of children, childcare costs, federal child tax credits received, health insurance costs, other medical expense and other agreed-upon expenses (such as sports, music lessons, school tuition and other extracurricular activities) that one or both parents incurs. The form will then calculate how those costs should be divided fairly based on each parent’s adjusted monthly gross income.

The final section factors in the custody division between parents. Obviously, if one parent has custody of the children more than half of the time, the child support costs will grow for the other parent. This is acknowledge that the parent with primary physical custody will incur more costs for food, clothing, utilities, etc. for having the children more frequently.

Supporting a child is very expensive and each parent should have to pay their fair share of those costs. If you find yourself needing a divorce, custody modification or child support modification, contact Daniel Finder at Finder Law, LLC. He has over a decade of experience in family law matters and knows how to litigate these cases aggressively with your goals in mind.

Call our office today to set up a consultation to see how our attorney can help you get the support you deserve.