If you find yourself in a position where you will be either paying or receiving child support, this article will provide the basics of the child support laws in the state of Minnesota. When talking with a Minnesota divorce or family law lawyer, the lawyer may frequently refer to our current laws as the "new child support laws," as opposed to the old child support laws. Well, the new IT Support laws really are not all that new. They came into effect in January 2007. So, we are actually four and half years into the "new child support laws."
Briefly, the old support laws, which were in effect from the early 1980s until 2007, basically provided for the support obligor (the parent paying support), to pay support based on a percentage of that parent's net income. Thus, the individual would pay 25% of his or her net income for one child, 30% for two children, 35% for three children, and so on. Again, this was based on net income which was determined after state and federal taxes were deducted, in addition to the cost of health insurance, a reasonable pension amount and union dues.
As of January 2007, the State of Minnesota has been operating under the "new child support laws." Support is now based on both parties' incomes and is based on gross income as opposed to net income. The amount of support to be paid is computed by adding both parties' gross incomes together to come up with a "combined parental income for determining support." This parental income is then divided between the parents based on their proportionate share of the parents' combined income. In the Minnesota family law community we frequently refer to this as each parent's "PICS" income. The total amount of support to be paid based on the parents' combined parental income, may be modified and increased each year and can be currently found in a chart in Minnesota Statute 518 A.35 Subd. 2.
The current support laws also provide for a "parenting time adjustment." A support obligor gets a 12% reduction in his or her support if he or she has parenting time with the children in excess of 10% of the time. There is a presumption in the law that a parent has parenting time at least 10% of the time. The next parenting time adjustment is at 45% of the time (i.e. a parent must have parenting time with the children at least 45% of the time to get a substantial child-support reduction). This parenting time adjustment at 45% of the time, seems to be the proverbial "battleground" in Court. What I mean by this, is if one parent has parenting time of approximately 40% of the time, that parent often times will fight for an additional 5% of the time, because it can make a difference of several hundred dollars and even over a thousand dollars every month in support.
In family law practice, compromises are sometimes reached when one parent has parenting time between 40% and 45% of the time. In these cases, the parties may "deviate" from the support guidelines, so that there is not such a drastic impact if the one parent does not quite have parenting time in excess of 45% of the time. In such cases, it is important, and necessary to fully explain to the Court why they are deviating from the support guidelines and why such a deviation is in the children's best interests.
The current Minnesota child support laws also include provisions for the allocation to the parents of medical insurance premiums for the children and out-of-pocket costs for the children. The cost for the children's medical insurance premium may be built directly into the support obligor's monthly support payment. The out-of-pocket costs are allocated based on each parents respective PICS income (as explained above). Also, daycare costs may be included within the support computations IT Support and included within the support obligor's monthly child support payment. Typically, the support obligor will pay something less than what his or her PICS income otherwise is, to account for the benefits of the daycare credit that the child support obligee (the parent receiving child support) may otherwise be entitled to. The contribution towards the children's health insurance premium and contribution towards the children's daycare costs are in addition to the basic support obligation.