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Texas updates child support guidelines every year

On Behalf of | Oct 23, 2016 | Family Law

The Texas Attorney General releases updated child support guidelines every year. Child support payments are mandatory transfers of money from the non-custodial parent to the custodial parent. Child support is intended to ensure that the non-custodial parent continues to contribute and share in the cost of raising the child. Most states now use a set of guidelines to ensure that the courts impose fair obligations on all parties. This post will go over the 2016 Texas child support guidelines.

Texas child support guidelines are based on tax charts. Tax tables calculate the average monthly income to assign a ranking. That ranking determines the allowable reductions in child support based on age, disability, insurance, medical costs, and federal income taxes.

The guidelines provide values for both employed and self-employed individuals, though they are on separate charts. The tax chart essentially calculates monthly discretionary income. The courts use that number to calculate a fair child support award.

Make sure that you review the footnotes to ensure that one of those special situations do not apply to you. For example, people who make more than $200,000 a year are subject to an additional Medicare tax of 0.9 percent.

Are you engaged in a dispute over child support? If so, you may want to contact a family law attorney to assist you in your dispute. While Texas does provide these tax tables to calculate child support, there is still room to debate the amount and whether or not child support should be imposed. A lawyer can help you promulgate these arguments to ensure that you pay a fair share of the child’s expenses, rather than all of them.

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