• Areas of Practice
• Family Law
• Introduction
• The Use of an Attorney For Family Law Matters
• Counseling In A Divorce
• What Is Collaborative Divorce?
• What if my Spouse is Abusing or Harassing Me?
• Custody and Physical Placement
• Child Support
• Maintenance
• Property Division
• Estate Planning, Trust Administration, and Probate
• Elder Law and Medicaid Planning
• Business Law
• Litigation

Child Support

Once the court has made a determination that one party should be awarded primary physical placement of the children, the court must enter an order as it relates to child support. Administrative Rule DWD 40, the Child Support Percentage of Income Standard, provides guidelines to family courts for setting child support payment amounts. The guidelines are based on the belief that both parents are responsible for supporting their children, whether they live together or not.

Child Support Guidelines

• The Child Support Guidelines are based on:
• Parent's gross income
• How much time a child spends with each parent
• Whether a parent is supporting other children

The basic support guidelines are:

• 17% of gross income for 1 child
• 25% of gross income for 2 children
• 29% of gross income for 3 children
• 31 % of gross income for 4 children
• 34% of gross income for 5 or more children

Income and "Ability to Earn"

Gross income is defined as all income from any source. This income may or may not be taxable. Income can be in the form of money, property or services. Gross income includes:

• wages, salaries, earnings, tips, interest, capital gains, commissions and bonuses
• worker's compensation or other personal injury awards intended to replace Income
• unemployment insurance
• income continuation benefits and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) payments
• voluntary contributions to retirement and cafeteria plans
• undistributed income of a corporation
• military allowances and veterans benefits

Gross income does not include:

• child support that you receive
• public assistance payments such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), W-2 cash payments or food stamps

The court may also use the amount of income that a parent has the “ability to earn.” The court can consider a parent’s:

• past earnings
• current physical and mental health
• history of child care responsibilities of the parent with primary placement
• education, training and recent work experience
• local job openings