How Is Child Support Determined in Maryland?

Child support can be simpler to calculate if the parents’ combined incomes total $180,000 per year or less. In those circumstances, the parties’ gross incomes are used to calculate the child support guideline worksheet, along with other factors such as work-related child care costs, health insurance premium costs, and support paid for other children from a different relationship. There is a presumption that the child support guideline worksheet’s child support figure is correct and in the children’s best interests, and so any deviation from the amount calculated by the worksheet must be explained and accepted by the Circuit Court when finalizing the consent order or judgment of divorce. If the parents’ combined incomes exceed $180,000 per year, the parents may reach agreement, or the court will order, and amount of child support that is focused on the financial circumstances and needs of the parties’ children. An analysis of the children’s actual expenses may be warranted, along with examining the standard of living the children are accustomed to living based upon their parents’ income. Divorce attorneys, and the court, can utilize child support software that extrapolates the child support for those higher income households which are above the guidelines; however, these extrapolated child support figures are not presumed to be correct and in the children’s best interest.