Who will get custody of the children?
The welfare of the children is the primary concern of the court. Property rights and welfare of the adults involved are secondary. Neither parent is automatically entitled to custody of any children. The judge may consider many factors which will be discussed in court at a hearing. The factors may include ages and sexes of the children, compatibility with each parent, ability of the parent to care for the children, the personal conduct of each parent, and which parent has been the primary care-giver. The primary consideration of the court is to make a determination as to what is in the best interest of the children.
How is child support determined?
In North Carolina, child support is calculated pursuant to the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines. There are various forms/worksheets that are used depending on the custody arrangement of the minor child or children and is primarily based on the combined gross monthly incomes of both parents.
Circumstances such as work related day care expense, health insurance premiums attributable to the children, and certain extraordinary expenses also affect the amount of child support that has to be paid by one parent to the other. Even if the parties work out a joint custody arrangement, one party may still have to pay child support.
Of course, the parties may agree upon a different amount of child support than that calculated under the Guidelines. Also the Guidelines may be deviated from in Court under certain circumstances. It is a better practice to calculate child support under the Guidelines first before a different amount of child support is agreed upon.
There are various websites that can give you a "rough" idea of what your child support obligations may be if you know the correct amounts to enter on the form worksheets. One such website is:
https://nddhacts01.dhhs.state.nc.us/home.jsp?TargetScreen=WorkSheet.jsp Be aware, that under certain circumstances, our Courts can impute income to you that you do not earn. Furthermore, amounts of money received by a parent that he or she may not consider "true" income may be used to calculate a parent's child support obligation.
It is always safer to contact an experienced Family Law Attorney to calculate your correct child support obligation or on the amount of child support you may be entitled to receive as child support.
Please call Attorney Paul Pawlowski today at 704-333-0312 or
email me. *For a limited time, I will discount my retainer/hourly rate in family law matters by 20% for any new client mentioning this offer on this web site.