Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Changes – Pre-Existing Child Support Obligations and Responsibility for Other Children

Published on: December 31, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

In determining the amount of child support for other children, which amount will be deducted from the gross income for that obligor, only the amount being paid for ongoing child support will be deducted. Portions of payments which are being paid for arrears will not be deducted from that obligors gross income for the new calculation.

The committee recognizes that multiple family and multiple child situations can create complex calculation problems. The revised guidelines bold the previously language which indicates that such situations may be appropriate for a deviation from the guidelines. A clause was also added which indicates that is the best practice to, if possible, hear multiple cases involving the same party(ies) during the same court setting.

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Changes – Income

Published on: December 28, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

There are several specific things which are now explicity excluded from “income“, they are:
1) Child support payments received on behalf of a child who is not a party to the instant action;
2) The employer’s share of social security and medicare payments;
3) Health, life or disability insurance premium payments which are paid directly to an insurance carrier and not withheld from wages; and

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Changes – Self Support Reserve and High Income Cases

Published on: December 24, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

The official federal poverty level from 2009 is now the standard: $902.50 net per month or $999.00 gross per month. Now when using Worksheet A, other extraordinary expenses (in addition to payment for child care and health insurance coverage for the children) may be an adequate basis for deviating from the guidelines if the obligor’s income falls within the shaded area.

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Changes – Retroactive Child Support

Published on: December 21, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

The revised North Carolina Child Support Guidelines will have a new section which addresses retroactive child support. The guidelines will allow for retroactive child support to be determined either by applying the guidelines formula or by consideration of actual expenditures of the custodial parent. If retroactive child support is determined by the guidelines formula, then the formula will be run with the variables (parties’ income, health insurance costs, work related childcare costs, and overnights) as they were on the first date for which retroactive child support is sought. For example, if the custodial parent is seeking retroactive child support back to January 1, 2009 then the formula would be run using the variables as they were on January 1, 2009.

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Changes – Applicability and Deviation

Published on: December 17, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

The new North Carolina Child Support Guidelines will be applicable to all child support cases (or modification of child support cases) heard on or after January 1, 2011. There will now be a provision which explicitly indicates that they are applicable to actions brought under North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 50B (Domestic Violence Protective Order Actions). The provision addressing the guidlines’ applicability to retroactive child support will be removed and there will be a new section added which addresses this topic.

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines Updated

Published on: December 14, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

The North Carolina Conference of Chief District Court Judges is required by North Carolina General Statutes 50-13.4 to review the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines to ensure that they provide for appropriate child support judgments. The child support guidelines were last reviewed in 2006 so they were again reviewed this year.

Check out the North Carolina child support calculator by clicking here.

Domestic Violence in Child Custody Dispute

Published on: December 9, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

A man involved in a child custody dispute recently committted an act of domestic violence when he hit the mother and the grandmother with his car in Monteray, California. According to the article, the man and a family member were in a motor vehicle and trying to leave with the minor children. The mother and grandmother of the children came outside of the house, stood in front of the car, and tried to convince the men to leave the children with their mother.

Divorce Issues Emerge in Home Designing

Published on: December 6, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Is it easier to remodel houses than people? Interior and architectural designers are finding that they have greater psychological issues to deal with than do most client-based professionals simply because they transform homes into personal living spaces for couples. Designers find that couples can disagree over the simplest things, such as fabrics or wallpaper, and will end up battling over matters that were previously unforeseeable to both of them.

Virtual Visitation in Family Law

Published on: December 3, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Courts are beginning to utilize new technology to experiment with the implementation of “virtual visitation” on divorced parents who do not live in the same state. A New York judge recently ruled that a mother who was moving out of state to Florida must make her two children available to talk to their father via Skype, an online video chatting service. Many other states have also begun to experiment with virtual visitation laws, with judges ordering non-custodial parents to keep in contact with their children through email, instant messaging, and web cameras.

Cohabitation Survival Tip #8: Don’t become too comfortable with comfortable.

Published on: November 30, 2010 | On behalf of Arnold & Smith, PLLC

Couples who cohabitate will innately share more of their daily lives than couples who live apart. After seeing another person day in and day out and sharing in the less glamorous parts of that person’s life, couples who get too comfortable with each other can begin to take one another for granted. Cohabitating couples should learn to keep communication open in order to insure that one of them does not feel taken for granted or underappreciated.