Applying the Wisconsin Child Support Guidelines to Your Case
In a Wisconsin divorce, the right to receive or the obligation to pay child support depends largely on the details of the physical placement arrangement — where do the children spend most nights?
Depending upon the physical placement arrangement, the parents' income, and various other factors as defined by Wisconsin law, a parent's child support obligation will be determined. Wisconsin has adopted child support guidelines. In the traditional physical placement arrangement schedule, the courts will generally require child support to be paid in an amount equivalent to 17 percent of gross income for one child, 25 percent for two children, 29 percent for three children, and so on. In a traditional placement setting the parent with primary physical placement pays all of the variable costs.
However, if the physical placement schedule results in the parents sharing of the children, and at least one of the parents have periods of physical placement equivalent to 92 overnights per year, the gross income of both parents will be taken into account and there would be a reduction from the general percentage guidelines set forth above. In this situation, however, each parent will be required to contribute to the variable costs for the minor children. Variable costs include child care, tuition, special needs and activities. The sharing of variable costs will be directly correlated with the amount of time that the parent exercises physical placement of the minor child(ren).
Child support can involve very complex calculations. In addition to determining what percentage is appropriate, our Wisconsin divorce lawyers also work to determine the true gross income of each of the parents so that a fair and proper support schedule can be determined.
