Many people do not realize that the right to child support is a right that actually belongs to the child (and not to the recipient.)   For that reason, neither mother nor father are technically able to waive child support.  The purpose of child support is to equalize the standard of living for the child from one home to the next.

Child support is calculated by court-approved software such as Dissomaster or SupporTax.  Although the calculation requires a lot of other information, the two factors that have the most effect on child support are 1) incomes of the parties; and 2) the time each party has with the child(ren) which is referred to as "timeshare." 

The court utilizes the "gross income" of each party from almost all sources, such as bonuses, commissions, interest income, royalty income, trust income.  In situations in which the court believes a party is deliberately not working, has changed jobs in order to reduce their income or has unreasonably remained unemployed, the court can assign an income to that person for purposes of arriving at a fair child support order.


For an initial consultation, please email us or call (949) 261-7700 or (949) 713-3817.