If you divorce with minor children, child support will be involved. Child support refers to money paid from one parent to another. The non-custodial parent typically makes payments to the custodial parent to help care for the child. Child support pays for necessities such as food, housing, medical care, education, and extracurricular activities.
The payment amount varies based on each individual situation. Courts use the California “guideline,” which includes factors such as how much money each parent makes, how they file taxes, and how much time they spend with the children. In California, child support is based on a computer-driven guideline calculation. The court is required to use this calculation.
For children, a divorce can be challenging. To help minimize the effects of a divorce, judges tend to want to preserve the status quo. This may mean keeping your child in private school if they attended before the divorce. This may seem like an unnecessary expense, but you may be able to continue the education if you can prove that it is in your child’s best interests.
Parents do not have to financially support their child forever (unless the child is disabled and cannot care for themselves), but the duty of child support does last until the child is an adult.
Under California law, child support typically ends when the child has turned 18 and graduated from high school, whichever happens later. If the child is still in high school at age 18, then the duty ends when they graduate or turn 19, whichever happens first.
The duty to pay child support also ends when a child gets married, joins the military, is emancipated, or dies, even if any of those events happen before age 18. If the child is disabled and cannot support themselves, then child support can last beyond age 18.
The court will typically allow parents to come to agreements on their own when it comes to matters such as child custody and property division. However, this is not true for child support.
A parent may agree to waive child support if the other parent decides they do not want visitation or custody. However, this is not the parent’s decision. Under California law, parents must act in their child’s best interest, which means supporting and providing for their children. Not paying child support ultimately harms the child, as there is less money for necessities.
If the parents agree, they could agree to an above or below-guideline child support order. In any case, they are not legally allowed to waive child support altogether.
Failure to pay child support is a serious act that can result in many penalties, such as the following:
Child support is required in California. You cannot waive it for any reason, as this is not considered to be in the best interest of the child.
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