Child support pays for a child's everyday needs: housing, food, clothing, and school. Whether you are asking for support, being asked to pay it, or need an order changed, MDR Law Group, PLLC helps parents in Bullitt, Nelson, Hardin, Spencer, and Jefferson Counties understand what Kentucky law requires and make sure the numbers are right.
How Kentucky calculates child support
Kentucky uses statutory guidelines based on both parents' incomes. The parents' monthly incomes are added together, the guidelines table gives a total support amount for that combined income and the number of children, and that amount is divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes. The Kentucky Attorney General publishes the worksheet the courts use.
The guideline amount is presumed correct, but a court can depart from it when applying it would be unjust or inappropriate, for example because of a child's extraordinary medical or educational needs. The court must explain any departure in a written finding. When parents share parenting time, a parent who has the child at least 88 days a year can ask for a shared parenting time credit.
What counts as income
“Gross income” is broad. It includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, retirement and pension income, Social Security, unemployment, workers' compensation, disability benefits, and maintenance received, among other sources. Means-tested public assistance and food stamps are excluded. For self-employed parents and business owners, it is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses, which often differs from the income shown on a tax return. If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can use the income that parent could earn.
Health insurance, child care, and extra expenses
On top of the guideline amount, the court divides between the parents, in proportion to their incomes, the cost of the child's health insurance and reasonable child care costs incurred so a parent can work, look for work, or go to school. If health coverage is reasonable in cost and available to either parent, the court orders that parent to provide it.
Extraordinary expenses are handled case by case. The court can depart from the guideline amount for things like:
- A child's extraordinary medical or dental needs
- A child's extraordinary educational, job training, or special needs
- A parent's own extraordinary needs, such as medical expenses
Establishing support
Support is usually set as part of a divorce or, for parents who were never married, after paternity is established. A temporary order can be put in place while the case is pending.
Changing a support order
A support order can be changed only if there has been a material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing. If applying the guidelines to the parents' current situation would change the monthly amount by 15% or more, Kentucky law presumes a material change; a change of less than 15% is presumed not to be one. A job loss, a large raise, or a change in parenting time can all lead to a new calculation. Changes generally apply only from the date the motion is filed, so it is important not to wait.
Enforcing support
Many parents work with their County Attorney's child support office, which brings enforcement actions on a parent's request. That office represents the state's interest in collecting support, not either parent personally. Hiring private counsel can make sense when support is tied up with custody, parenting time, a divorce, or disputed self-employment income, or when you want someone advising only you.
What to bring to your consultation
- Recent pay stubs and your last two years of tax returns, for both parents if you have them
- Any existing support order and payment records
- Child care receipts and the cost of the child's health insurance
- For self-employed parents, business income and expense records
What we help with
- Calculating support under the Kentucky guidelines
- Reviewing a self-employed or business-owner parent's income
- Health insurance and child care cost allocation
- Shared parenting time credits
- Modifying an existing order
- Enforcement and defending against enforcement
Talk to us
Call (502) 309-9044 or use our contact form to schedule a free consultation.
This page provides general information, not legal advice. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes.