For divorced parents in New York, child support issues don’t go away until children are ready to go out and conquer the world on their own. Child support can be a stressful topic, especially in tough financial times. For those currently struggling to meet their support obligations, a planned inflation adjustment isn’t necessarily going to make things any easier.
Child support inflation adjustments are scheduled to occur every two years. The next scheduled adjustment is just around the corner — scheduled to take place in mid-February. The current benchmark for combined parental income is set at $130,000. Starting in February, this amount is raising to $141,000.
In New York, child support is determined based on the number of children in the home. A certain percentage of income is granted per number of children. These percentages range from 17 percent for one child to 35 percent of income for five or more children. At the current benchmark, this is already a significant chunk of change for most to manage.
As the price of goods, services and housing continue to rise, this inflation adjustment may help ease financial burdens placed on custodial parents. However, income levels are not increasing at the same pace as everything else, so this increase in child support may be difficult for the non-custodial parent to manage. For non-custodial parents who are not financially prepared to increase child support payments, it may be possible to request a modification of child support.
Parents only want to do what is best for their children. Supplying adequate child support is part of that; however, dividing the expenses of one home into two isn’t always cheap and can be difficult for any single parent to manage. For New York parents who are financially struggling, help is available to try to petition for or negotiate an affordable payment schedule.
Source: whec.com, “NY clarifies inflation adjustment in child support”, Nov. 29, 2014