NYC Child Support | NY Child Support

The laws surrounding NYC child support are the same as those covering NY child support because child support laws in New York City are governed by the laws of New York State.

New York state law holds that you are responsible for the financial support of your child until he/she is 21-even if you have not lived, or never have, with the child.

In New York state child support enforcement is carried out by child support enforcement units (CSEU) and support collection units (SCU) in each county of the state, including New York city.

There is a Child Support Enforcement Agency office in every county and borough of New York State and one of their tasks is to ensure that you are compliant with any court orders to make child support.

The child support enforcement units carry out a number of tasks, specifically-

1.  Child support enforcement-it helps you to file a petition to have a child support order enforced;

2.  Reviews of child support payments-they review child support payments every 2 years in order to reflect cost of living changes and changes in the circumstances of both parents;

3.  Modification of child support orders-they will assist when circumstances change for either parent in seeking to have a child support order changed;

4.  Collection of child support-they will attempt to ensure that the non custodial parent is paying his/her child support as the support collection unit will be the recipient of support payments after the making of a court order for support;

5.  Establishing paternity-where parents of a child are unmarried, in law the child will have no legal father. Child support enforcement will arrange for testing if necessary in order to establish paternity; but you can file an Acknowledgement of Legal paternity form yourself if you are the father of the child to become the legal father of your child;

6.  Finding non custodial parents-they will also help to locate non custodial parents who do not face up to their responsibilities.

Please note that if you change your residence and you are the subject of a court order for child support then you will have to notify the Child Support Enforcement Agency of your new details.

NY Child Support Calculation

NY child support is calculated on the basis of the number of children to be supported and the adjusted gross income of the non custodial parent.

This involves looking at the gross income of the non custodial parent, subtracting taxes, social security payments, Medicare) and then applying a percentage to the net figure.

This percentage is applied to the adjusted gross income figure in the following proportions:

1 child-proportion of adjusted gross income is 17%

2 children-25% of adjusted gross income

3 children-29% of adjusted gross income

4 children-31% of adjusted gross income

5 children-at least 35% of adjusted gross income

This amount is then added to the non custodial parents share of medical, educational and child care expenses. This total amount then is the non custodial parent’s full child support obligation.

It is important to note that if you are denied visitation rights to your child you cannot withhold child support. You must go to court to have your visitation order enforced or to obtain a visitation order.

Generally you will be ordered by the Family Law Court to make your child support payments to the Child Support Enforcement agency and not directly to the custodial parent. It is important to ensure that you do this as you may not get credit from the agency for payments made directly to the parent and your payments may be considered to be a gift, not child support. Check out child support laws also.

Here is a link to a good book about child support which covers all states and has a child support calculator set out in it together with a huge range of frequently asked questions about child support.