It’s not uncommon for divorcing parents to say “we don’t want either one of us to pay child support, we will just each support the children.” Unfortunately, in Iowa, this doesn’t always work. The Iowa Supreme Court has established child support guidelines, and to get your divorce document signed by the judge you have to show what the child support guidelines (CSG) say should be paid.
The CSG formula is driven primarily by the gross income of each parent, after allowing some basic deductions for things such as daycare, cost to add the children to health insurance, child support paid to children from previous relationships and other factors.
If one parent has primary physical care of the child(ren) then that parent will be the recipient of the child support. Out of that amount they are expected to pay 100% of the child expenses, such as extracurricular activities, school expenses, camps, lessons, and other similar costs. Each parent is expected to pay normal living expenses at their own home such as food, housing, and basic needs.
If the parents have joint physical care (often called 50/50 custody) then the child support is calculated by the “offset” method which means that the higher earning parent may have to pay support under the guidelines but both parents also pay half of the child’s expenses over and above basic needs at a parent’s house. Some parents like to do this through a jointly managed bank account and others prefer to “true up” with spreadsheets and reimbursement on a monthly or quarterly basis.
In some instances, the child support calculation is so minimal that the court will allow it to be waived, but this is the exception rather than the rule. Your UnHitchUs attorney will be able to calculate the child support and talk to you about the results of the calculation and how to structure child support and child expenses in a way that works for you.
Warning: Be cautious of online calculators as these are generic and reliance on them without guidance from your attorney can leave you with unrealistic expectations about what you can pay and have approved by the judge.
In Iowa child support will come through a wage withholding order. This means that the support will be pulled from the payor’s check automatically with their pay cycle. While it is due on the first of the month it pulls throughout the month. For example if you pay $200 a month in support here’s how it will pull from your check:
1. If you are paid twice a month, it will pull $100 from each paycheck commencing with the first paycheck on or after the first of the month.
2. If you are paid biweekly it will be calculated like this: $200 per month x 12 months=$2400 a year. Now divide by 26 pay period (biweekly number of checks) so $92.31 per month will pull from each check from the beginning of the payments stream.
3. If you are paid weekly it will be $200 per month x 12 months=$2400 a year. Now divide by 52 so $46.15 per week will be paid.
When the money is pulled from the payor’s check it will be sent to a central clearing house at Collection Services, processed and then sent out the recipient. The recipient will be able to coordinate the administration through loading onto a debit card, or depositing into a designated bank account.
Keep in mind there is processing time so it could take several days from when the money is removed from the payor’s account until it reaches the payee. Recipients need to remember that planning on receiving your funds on the first of the month for bills due at that time won’t usually work as the money flows in throughout the month. Once you begin receiving payments you will be able to figure out a rhythm of the flow of the payments.
Children’s expenses.
If you are sharing children’s expenses you will need to keep track. Couples like to use parenting apps for this purpose (Talking parents, App Close, Our Family Wizard are popular choices). Others use good old fashioned excel spreadsheets or a simple handwritten accounting.
Some parents enjoy having a joint expense account that both parents can access virtually. With a preapproved list of items that can be debited and a base amount over which parents are not allowed to debit without specific approval (I.e. no purchases over $100 per item or per shopping trip) parents can be more timely in purchasing the expense items for the children when it’s convenient.
Talk to your UnHitchUs lawyer at the virtual consult about which option may work best for you.