Long Island Child Support Modifications

Your Trusted Long Island Child Support Attorney

In New York, child support is financial support that is paid to the custodial parent from the noncustodial parent. Child support consists of cash payments, health insurance, child care payments, and payments for uninsured medical costs. The family court official that makes decisions regarding how much the noncustodial parent will pay is referred to as a support magistrate.

If you are the mother or father of a child and your child does not live with you, you will be responsible for making child support payments to the other parent or the person who is taking care of your child, and this support obligation begins from the day the child was born and until the child turns 21.

Understanding Child Support Calculations in New York

New York uses a standard guideline when calculating child support. Under New York law, you may also owe back child support from the time your child was born. In addition to the standard guidelines, you may also have to pay for child care, uninsured medical expenses, and educational expenses. If you have health insurance available through your employer, you will have to get coverage for your child providing it's reasonable in cost and available to your child.

The court will calculate how much you will have to pay based on your adjusted gross income and the number of children. First, the court will look at your gross income, and then it will make deductions for Medicare, Social Security, and New York City or Yonkers tax in order to determine your gross income. From there the court will multiply the adjusted gross income by the standard guideline percentage for the number of children being calculated.

Your share of child care, medical, and educational expenses will be added to the income percentage. The percentage of income plus share of expenses and the combined amount will be the basic child support amount. When the parents' combined income exceeds $136,000, the court may use the standard guideline (above), or they may consider other factors when determining the child support obligation.

People have to pay child support even when they are on unemployment, disability, workers' compensation, or Social Security. Once the court determines how much support you have to pay, if the remaining income is less than or equal to the federal poverty guidelines, then the court may issue an order for as little as $25. However, this amount should go up once the noncustodial parent's income increases.