Child support is a central issue to any divorce proceeding that often becomes a source of contention between the spouses. Having uniform guidelines to structure the amounts a parent must pay and how the money is to be used brings stability to the system and a level of comfort to parents that know child support orders are not arbitrary and unpredictable. Indiana recognized the need for uniform guidelines and established them in 1987. Federal law requires a review of child support rules every four years, and the most recent review produced several changes that aim to make application of the guidelines clearer to parents in hopes of avoiding additional litigation. The public comment on the proposed changes recently ended, and the revised guidelines will be implemented once approved by the Indiana Supreme Court. An overview of the major changes to the guidelines will be discussed below so parents know what to expect in the event they have a child support issue.
Health Insurance
The biggest change to the child support guidelines comes in the area of health insurance, made in light of the Affordable Care Act. Under the previous version of the guidelines crafted in 2010, a parent would be exempt from the requirement for private health insurance coverage for a child if the cost would exceed five percent of the parent’s gross weekly income. The committee in charge of drafting the guidelines created a worksheet to aid courts and attorneys with calculating the percentage of income the cost of health insurance would be on a weekly basis. In practice, the worksheet proved too complicated and most eventually abandoned its use.
The new guidelines get rid of the worksheet and the five percent threshold. Now, both parents are presumed to have the ability to obtain health insurance at a reasonable cost. This presumption can be rebutted by one or both parents by presenting an Exemption Certificate excusing them from the requirement to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act or evidence showing the parent’s income is below the federal tax threshold. If both parents are exempt, the custodial parent is responsible for enrolling the child public insurance programs like Medicaid and Indiana’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Emancipation and Termination of Child Support
The other substantial change relates to the lowering of the age of emancipation to 19 years old by the Indiana Legislature in 2012. Under the proposed guidelines, if the child support obligation is for more than one child, the non-custodial parent cannot automatically reduce the amount of child support paid when one the children becomes a legal adult by reaching the age of 19, is emancipated, or the child support obligation terminates for some other reason. If the parents want to decrease the child support obligation, they will need to petition the court for a modification of the child support order. For child support orders issued or modified after June 30, 2012, petitions for education support need to be submitted before the child reaches 19 years old. This would change the current rule that allows petitions for educational support until the child turns 21 years old.
Find a Lawyer
Given that child support is such a necessary contribution for most single parents, it is important to keep up on legal changes that affect this area of the law. If you are a single parent with questions or concerns about a pending or active child support order, speaking with an attorney knowledgeable in family law is a good way of ensuring you receive what the law allows. Christopher Arrington, Attorney at Law, P.C., serves the Danville, Indiana area and is an experienced family law attorney available to assist you. Contact him today for a confidential consultation.