Determining child support can be stressful and time consuming. However, it is important for the well-being of the child. Here are three tips to help this process run smoother and cause less headaches.
Three Helpful Tips for Accurately Determining Child Support
1) Child support is determined using Child Support Worksheets that are based on the monthly gross income of each party and the number of overnights the child has with each party. Make sure to use the updated Child Support Worksheet released January 1, 2014 by the Colorado Judiciary.
2) The single most important piece of information used to determine child support is the sworn financial affidavit. Each party is required to complete and submit a Sworn Financial Statement to determine child support. No shortcuts should be taken on this form. A little more effort and time to ensure this form is accurate and complete will save time and headaches later on. Be sure to support this form with proper documentation including current and past earnings, tax returns and receipts and expenses.
3) The child’s health care costs are very important to the court and need to be determined accurately. It is important to remember that the court is interested in the child’s health care costs, not the parents or the total for the family. Make sure that the number used for the child’s health care costs does not the family’s or parent’s healthcare costs or plan. The child’s individual health care cost needs to be determined and used in the computation of child support.
