What Is Child Support?

In San Diego, whether your case is a legal separation, paternity or divorce, the child support guideline is the same calculation. The program is called the “Disso Master” and calculates guideline child support among other calculations. Whether you are not married and have children such as a paternity case or you are married and have children such as a divorce or legal separation, this program calculates the guideline child support. It is very important to have realistic expectations in your pending family law case and this program can give some certainty as to the outcome for a child support analysis so that thousands of dollars are not spent on attorney fees and costs when an agreement could be reached according to California law.

A mandatory add on means an amount in excess of the base child support order. The law for child support is gender neutral and there are many mothers paying child support and many fathers receiving child support. These mandatory add ons can result in hundreds of dollars per month in additional support to the custodial parent and it is very important to try and get a court order for child support which includes the mandatory add ons. Some Judges will automatically order the add ons and some will not. In general, the mandatory add ons are contained in Family Law Codes 4062 & 4063.

In specific, the mandatory add ons include costs for child care for reasonably necessary training or education for employment skills or related to employment. This is most commonly referred to as “day care”. In San Diego, the amount of day care varies widely but can easily be hundreds of dollars per month per child. A Judge can make an order which increases the base amount of child support by a fixed number every month but many Judge’s order that each party pay 50% or one half. The issue then, of course, is who pays initially and who reimburses and what is the reimbursement procedure. In addition, another mandatory add on is for uninsured, unreimbursed orthodontic, dental, medical, counseling or vision costs for the minor children. Again, these can add up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Furthermore, costs relating to the special needs of the child or children or costs relating to education can be considered. Under the Family Law Code, the procedure is to send proof of payment with the receipt for payment within thirty days of making the payment and then ask for reimbursement within thirty days of the proof of payment. The best procedure is to send by e mail so that there is a record of sending and also a copy easily obtained in the future but, of course, print out and place in a separate file in case of computer malfunction.

There are two court systems in family law for child support in San Diego and one is the DCSS. There is also a guideline calculation in DCSS court which is very similar to the one from the Disso Master and there is not much deviation.

The law firm of Doppelt and Forney, APLC has the Disso Master program. During your initial private and free in-person or virtual consultation, an experienced family law attorney can calculate your child support using the Disso Master. This will help you make informed and intelligent decisions about whether the litigate or settle this issue. This law firm represents parents and spouses in family law cases in San Diego.