Child Support Basic Obligation

Child Support Basic Obligation

By Carl O. Graham

child support guidelines

In family law cases involving children, assuming the court has jurisdiction over the payor, the court will determine the parents’ obligations to pay child support and contribute towards children expenses.

Child Support Guidelines

Colorado has adopted child support guidelines, found in C.R.S. 14-10-115, which provide for a presumptive amount of support. The two basic factors are the income of the parties and number of children. See the Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations in C.R.S. 14-10-115(7)(b).

By way of example, if the parents have a combined income of $9200/mo and three children, the basic obligation is $2065/mo. This is not the support owing, but is the starting point for the parents’ combined obligation. Each parent’s share of that is determined in accordance with their proportional incomes. C.R.S. 14-10-115(7)(a)(I).

After determining this basic obligation, the next step is to add to the basic obligation work-related net child care costs (i.e. after factoring in the tax breaks), health insurance costs, and, less commonly, extraordinary medical or other adjustments. C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(a). And then, a parent who is paying those expenses receive a credit against their obligation for such payment.

Using the example above with combined parental incomes of $9200 and three children, resulting in a basic obligation of $2065/mo, assume the mother’s gross monthly income is $5000 and father’s is $4200. Mother’s income is 54.3% of the combined total, so her obligation is $1121/mo, and father’s 45.7% obligation is the remaining $944/mo.

Once the basic obligation has been calculated, the next step is to determine any adjustments to support for child-related expenses such as day care, health, etc.

Support with Low Income Parents

For situations when the parents’ combined incomes are under $1100, C.R.S. 14-10-115(7)(a)(II)(D) provides for a minimum support obligation applies unless both parents have at least 93 overnights. The monthly obligation is:

  • $50 for 1 child
  • $70 for 2 children
  • $90 for 3 children
  • $110 for 4 children
  • $130 for 5 children
  • $150 for 6 or more children

Examples of when this adjustment may apply is when the parents are full-time students, or medically unable to work - otherwise, at least minimum wage would be imputed to one or both of the parents.

Support with High Income Parents

The child support guidelines max out at $30,000/mo of combined incomes. Beyond that, the judge may apply the support as if the income were exactly $30,000, or extrapolate above that. Per C.R.S. 14-10-115(7)(a)(II)(E):

“The judge may use discretion to determine child support in circumstances where combined adjusted gross income exceeds the uppermost levels of the schedule of basic child support obligations; except that the presumptive basic child support obligation shall not be less than it would be based on the highest level of adjusted gross income set forth in the schedule of basic child support obligations.

While extrapolation above $30,000/mo is authorized, it’s not common - most of the time the upper limit of the guidelines is the maximum child support awarded.

Colorado Child Support Calculator

As a review of the following shows, child support calculations have a lot of moving parts, resulting in complicated calculations. Fortunately, the Colorado judiciary has licensed a consumer version of Family Law Software to perform the calculations - see the judicial web page for more information and a link to the application.

Family law attorneys will also typically use software to calculate support, saving time, and therefore saving clients money. (At Graham.Law, we use the commercial version of the Family Law Software, which not only calculates maintenance & child support, but also does sworn financial statements and other calculations).

You’ve no doubt heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out.” Having the software automates the calculations, but before you can calculate a support obligation, you must know what factors are included, and how to calculate, for example, the health insurance costs. So even using the application, you will need to read the remainder of this article to know what costs to actually include.

Child Care Adjustment

Per C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(a), “Net child care costs incurred on behalf of the children due to employment or job search or the education of either parent shall be added to the basic obligation and shall be divided between the parents in proportion to their adjusted gross incomes.” Note use of the term “net” - this means that the day care costs after the federal tax credit, not the gross costs.

Moreover, the costs have to be reasonable: “Child care costs shall not exceed the level required to provide quality care from a licensed source for the children. The value of the federal income tax credit for child care shall be subtracted from actual costs to arrive at a figure for net child care costs.” C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(a).

While the costs cannot exceed what a licensed provider would charge, it does not mean that the day care provider must be licensed. It is not unusual for family members or friends to provide day care, although in such cases the other party will typically scrutinize proof of payment to make sure money is actually changing hands.

Day care costs can be for full-time care, part-time (before or after school), or over summers or vacations, for example. And the term “child care” is probably more appropriate than “day care” - if a parent works nights or travels, he/she may need to hire a nanny.

Note also that while the costs are added to the basic obligation the parent who pays them receives a credit for those costs. By way of example, return to the same example used above. Assume Mother does not need child care while the children live with her, but father has them for the summer, and incurs a total of $1080 in day care costs.

In that case, father cannot claim a child care tax credit(only the custodial parent can), so the net costs are $1080. Divide it by 12 to arrive at $90/mo. That $90/mo is added to the $2065 total basic obligation, resulting in an adjusted obligation of $2155/mo. Another way to think of it is that each party pays their proportional shares of the $90/mo day care costs.

The parties’ income ratios are unchanged, so father’s 45.7% share comes to $985/mo (prior to the child care adjustment, it was $944/mo). But father then subtracts the $90/mo he’s actually paying for day care from that number, resulting in a support obligation to mother of $853/mo.

Health Insurance Adjustment

The court will typically order the parents to provide medical and dental coverage for the children. And pursuant to C.R.S. 14-10-115(10), the children’s share of the costs are added to the obligation.

Typically, an employer-sponsored plan will have “tiers” of coverage, depending upon who is covered. The children’s share is the additional cost for insuring the children. So, for example, if mother is providing health insurance, and the cost for her alone is $400/mo, and the cost for mother and all children is $700/mo, the children’s share is the additional $300/mo cost.

If multiple children are covered, including non-joint children, then the costs are divided pro rata by the number of children covered. So in our example, if mother is covering two non-joint stepchildren, plus the three joint children of the parties, then the $300/mo cost is divided by the 5 children total, coming to $60/child. For three joint children, $180 gets added to the basic support obligation.

While the Mother’s $180/mo health insurance costs are added to the obligation, it is not deducted from her share, since she doesn’t actually pay any support to herself. By virtue of adding the $180 to the child support worksheet, Father’s support obligation goes up by $82/mo, so he effectively pays 45.7% of Mother’s costs, and she pays the remainder.

In the unlikely event that the insurer does not have a breakdown by type of person covered, the total monthly cost is simply divided by the number of covered people. C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(c). So using the above example, if mother’s total obligation were $700, and that covered her, three joint children, and two non-joint children, there are a total of six covered people, at a cost of $117 each. So the share for the three joint children would be $351/mo.

Extraordinary Medical Expenses

Health insurance does not cover all costs - there will be co-pays, and various payments towards the deductible which need to be allocated between the parents. These are known as “extraordinary expenses”, and per C.R.S. 14-10-115(10)(h) the extraordinary medical expenses in excess of $250 per child per year are divided between the parties proportional to their incomes.

The statute is a little vague on payment of that first $250 of expenses per child, but per a 2019 Colorado Court of Appeals case, the parent who incurs the expenses pays it, until the combined out-of-pocket expenses reach the $250 per child threshold. In re: Marriage of Alvis, 2019 COA 97. See our blog discussion of unreimbursed medical expenses.

While the extraordinary medical expenses can be added to the child support worksheet, that rarely works, as it requires consistent expenses over a long period of time. Orthodontia is perhaps the most common extraordinary expense added to the worksheet, but if a child has special needs and has regular therapy or requires regular medical procedures or prescription drugs, they can be added to the worksheet.

When expenses are not included on the worksheet, the parent who incurred the expense typically provides proof of payment to the other parent, who then reimburses his/her proportional share within 30 days (note that the statute does not include deadlines, but this is what a judge typically orders).

Other Extraordinary Children Expenses

Other extraordinary expenses of the children may be included on the child support worksheet, but as with extraordinary medical expenses, this is not common, as such expenses are rarely regular enough to warrant inclusion.

Such expenses may be the costs of private school or a tutor, vehicle insurance for a 16 y.o., the costs of league sports, etc.

Sole Physical Care

Sole physical care means that the children live with one parent for 273 or more overnights per year, so that the other parent has 92 or fewer overnights.

In such cases, only the parent with 92 or fewer nights actually has a support obligation, as the majority parent receives “credit” for the expenses while the children are living with him/her. “The parent receiving a child support payment shall be presumed to spend his or her total child support obligation directly on the children.” C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(a).

Using the same example, let’s break out the total child support calculations.

  • Mother Income: $5000 (54.3% share)
  • Father Income: $4200 (45.7% share)
  • # children: 3
  • Basic Obligation: $2065/mo
  • Add Father Day Care Costs: $90/mo
  • Add Mother Health Insurance Costs: $180/mo
  • Total monthly Obligation: $2335/mo.
  • Father’s 45.7% share: $1067/mo
  • Deduct Father’s $90/mo day care: $977/mo

Thus, a father who has 92 or fewer overnights will owe $977/mo in child support.

Child Support Credit When Children Staying With Obligor

In Colorado, the child support obligation is a fixed monthly amount, constant throughout the year, even when the children are staying with the obligor (e.g. for the summer). A parent with 93 or more overnights will receive a credit for those overnights (see the Child Support for Shared & Split Custody article).

But a parent with exactly 92 overnights per year receives no credit for those overnights, and pays the exact child support as a parent with 0 overnights, for all 12 months of the year.

Deviation from Guidelines

Are the child support guidelines written in stone, or are they flexible, as the maintenance guidelines are? In short, while they are only presumptive and deviations are authorized, deviations are rare and courts will apply the guidelines in the overwhelming majority of situations.

C.R.S. 14-10-115(8)(e) provides:

“the guidelines and schedule of basic child support obligations set forth in subsection (7) of this section shall be used as a rebuttable presumption for the establishment or modification of the amount of child support. A court may deviate from the guidelines and schedule of basic child support obligations where its application would be inequitable, unjust, or inappropriate.” (Emphasis added).

The court must also state the specific reasons for deviation. Simply saying “I can’t afford it” will not work. Authorized reasons include:

  • A parent has substantially more parenting time than reflected by the overnight calculation
  • Extraordinary medical expenses incurred for treatment of either parent or a current spouse
  • Extraordinary costs associated with parenting time
  • Gross disparity in income between the parents
  • A parent owning a substantial non-income producing asset
  • Consistent overtime not included as gross income (e.g. because it is voluntary)
  • Income from a second job

Proving a factor exists does not require a deviation, nor is the court limited to the specific grounds for deviation enumerated in the statute.

Can the parents agree to a deviation from the child support guidelines? Yes. If the support owing is relatively minimal, or the parents agree that there are specific reasons justifying deviation, judges will generally go along with it. However, such deviations are only temporary, and a party may not bind himself or herself to permanently deviate from the guidelines.

Earmarked & In-Kind Support

A parent who is ordered to pay support cannot control how the money is spent. Fair or not, Colorado child support law simply presumes, without a meaningful right to question it, that child support is spent on the children. C.R.S. 14-10-115(14)(b) has a rather toothless provision: “If the noncustodial parent claims, based upon the information in the updated form, that the custodial parent is not spending the child support for the benefit of the children, the court may refer the parties to a mediator to resolve the differences.”

The law also does not permit a parent to offset child support by making specific purchases. It’s fine for a parent to purchase diapers, toys, or even give the children money directly - that’s what parents do. But don’t try to count it as support - those are gifts to the other parent or to the children, not support.

Child Support Tax Issues

Child support is not tax-deductible.

Unless the parties otherwise agree, upon request the court is required to allocate tax exemptions proportional to the parties incomes. C.R.S. 14-10-114(12). In order for the noncustodial parent to claim the exemptions, he/she must be current with that year's support obligation, and the parent with majority parenting should execute an IRS Form 8332.

Modification of Child Support

If circumstances change, either of the parents may seek to modify child support. See the Child Support Modification and Termination article for more details.

Do You Need a Child Support Lawyer in Colorado Springs?

The family law attorneys at Graham.Law have years of experience helping clients through the Colorado legal system. We know Colorado family laws, inside and out, from divorce to legal separation, from annulments to military divorce issues. And we understand child and family support. For more information about our El Paso County family law firm, click on:

Colorado family law is all we do. Period.

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