In every one of the fifty states, lawyers are required to submit a child support computation, whether it is strictly followed or whether a variance is granted.
So, just where did this mandatory child support calculation come from, anyway?
In the mid to late 1980s, data started coming out of the US Census Bureau that illustrated the correlation between poverty, single-parent households, and child support orders. Leaving the award of child support up to judges was not resulting in adequate support for children, and more and more single parents were applying to the federal government for welfare assistance.
The legislative history goes back to 1974, when Congress passed the “Family Support Act” as an amendment to the Social Security Act, making it mandatory for states receiving Aid for Dependent Children to establish and enforce child support obligations. Ten years later, Congress enacted the Child Support Enforcement Amendments, which spread the child support formula and enforcement to all families, not just those receiving public assistance. The year after that, in 1988, Congress mandated that by 1994, all states create a formula that would be a rebuttable presumptive in its computation of child support.
The bottom line for you as a family law attorney is that you need legal software with a powerful child support calculator for every case involving an unemancipated child. And, when you’re deep into negotiations for divorce settlement, you’ll want to be in a position to calculate child support and alimony, and determine whether to shift some of the child support into alimony payments to gain an income tax deduction.
Easysoft offers the line of legal software products you need. For divorce settlements, select our “Divorce Settlement Software,” which can be used in all 50-states. Add specialized software if you are calculating child support for NY, need a PA support calculator or an AZ child support calculator, or you are in NJ, using the case information statement.
You’ve had since at least 1994 to automate your child support calculations through legal software. We’ve been waiting for you to come along since 1986. Don’t you think it’s time that we got together?
