How does the Court determine how much child support a parent must pay?
The New York law which governs the support of children is referred to as the Child Support Standards Act (“CSSA”). According to the CSSA, the basic child support obligation is determined as a percentage of the non-custodial parent’s income less certain deductions, most commonly FICA (Social Security and Medicare taxes). The percentages are 17% for one child, 25% for two children, 29% for three children, 31% for four children and at least 35% for five or more children. However, the formula is adjusted for parents with income below the self-support reserve or the poverty income guideline amount. Although the CSSA contains an income “ceiling” of $130,000 beyond which child support can be based on a factor analysis, instead of a percentage of income, in practice the courts commonly apply the percentages to income and ignore the factor analysis until income exceeds $175,000 per year.
