On July 1, 2022, the updated Maryland Child Support Guidelines §12–204 went into effect. The Maryland Child Support Guidelines is the statutory formula that the Maryland Family Law and Divorce Courts utilize to calculate the proper amount of child support that one parent must pay to the other parent.
Please contact us to discuss how the new Child Support Guidelines might affect you and how your cooperative parenting plan (or a “co-parenting” plan), child custody schedule (whether physical or legal custody) can affect the Child Support payments in your case.
The updated Child Support Guidelines significantly increase the amount that the Maryland legislature assumes it costs to raise children in the state (called the Basic Child Support amount). This Basic Child Support amount is found in the statute depending on the parents’ joint income and how many children the parents have together.
According to the Child Support Guidelines statute, this Basic Child Support amount is divisible between the parents depending on the parents’ respective income shares and the amount of time each parent has with the child(ren). For example, if the Mother earns $4,000 monthly, and the Father earns $6,000 monthly, the parents’ joint income is $10,000 monthly and the Mother is responsible for 40% ($4,000 / $10,000) and the Father is responsible for 60% ($6,000 / $10,000) of the Basic Child Support. If the Father and Mother have custody of the children equally (50/50 custody), then the Basic Child Support amount is divisible by 2, since a parent is not obligated to pay child support to him- or herself.
The new Child Support Guidelines also have a sliding scale support schedule for custody arrangements where each parent has at least 25% of time with the children (about 92 nights per year), compared to the 35% threshold in the prior Guidelines. This would reduce the support obligation for many parents that have custody of their children on a regular basis, but not quite 50/50.
Finally, the notable change in the 2022 Child Support Guidelines is that the joint income threshold is raised from $15,000 to $30,000. This is significant because the prior Child Support Guidelines made the support obligation discretionary (read: negotiable) if the parents’ joint income was more than $15,000, so many couples who earn more than $15,000 monthly but less than $30,000 will have better guidance.
As with any matters pertaining to children’s issues, the child support is always modifiable based on a material change of circumstances. As your children get older, you or your spouse (or ex-spouse) have changes in jobs or living situations, it is prudent to review your co-parenting, custody, and child support agreements.
Mediating your child custody and support issues will save time and money. Please contact one of our Maryland Divorce Attorney Mediators to discuss mediation for any custody, child support, or other family law issues.