In ordinance with child support law, the family courts have established distribution rules to keep the process of paying child support running smoothly. Statistically, there exist many non-custodial parents who do not pay their court ordered child support. Court policies may vary in each state but for the most part, the rules of child support distribution are the same. However, calculating child support payments can be very different depending on location.
Every child is entitled to child support. Court views on the matter are that a child should be financially supported by both parents. Past confusion in child support law has led to some straightforward guidelines to be put into place. These rules depend on how the child support is being paid. Many child support payments are paid through child support agencies to eliminate difficulties. Child support agencies are required by federal child support law to view the payment as a monthly charge. In this way, the payments cannot be made on a weekly basis. Once a month, the custodial parent receives child support.
Current support, which has different rules than regular child support has to be paid before regular child support. This is because it is always due in a monthly payment and is never divided into weeks. It is important to note that the monthly amounts may vary. This is not because the custodial parent isn’t entitled to the same amounts of child support. Court breaks down the amount of regular child support that is paid weekly and mathematically determines the monthly lump sum payment a custodial parent will receive. This is determined by the number of weeks that fall in the month, either four or five. The changes do not reflect the payment amounts, only the timing of receiving them.
A non-custodial parent may owe arrears to the state as well as the custodial parent. According to child support law, a custodial parent on public assistance may have a portion of their payments deducted to pay the state. Distribution rules are different for a family that stops receiving public assistance. When a family stops receiving public assistance, they have to be paid the full amount of child support and back child support. Only then can the state begin to collect arrears that are owed to them by the non-custodial parent.
Distribution rules fall under federal child support law, and not state law. While federal child support law may be required to follow some state law, cases are different that involve child support. Court may calculate the total amount of support due in different ways depending on the state. When it comes to the distribution and collection of back pay, they follow the same guidelines.
