The current child support statute authorizes the family court to impose upon parents an income threshold. That is, if the parent is able to work, the court may impute income to that parent in the amount of 150% of minimum wage, assuming 40 hours per week of employment. Child support is supposed to be calculated by factoring in both parents’ incomes, so if a parent does not have income, by choice, then the court has the authority to calculate child support as though that parent has income.
The statute may be amended to reduce the court’s imputation of income, basing the income threshold on minimum wage (100%) instead of 150% of minimum wage, and basing the threshold on 30 hours of work per week instead of 40. The revised factors probably more accurately reflect what one actually experiences when seeking general employment prospects. If passed, the new legislation would take effect in 2015.
What happened with this??
It went into effect on March 1, 2016.