As a parent getting a New York divorce, your children are bound to be your number one concern.
And they should be.
You love your kids and want the world for them. So now that you're facing divorce, how do you make sure they get the financial support they need to live healthy and happy lives?
That’s where child support comes in.
You might think the purpose of child support is to ensure that the financial needs of your children are being met by you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse.
But it's important to understand that child support is about more than just money.
While it's true that child support is designed to ensure your children's financial well-being, that's only half of it.
Divorce is hard on your children. And the conflict and stress can take a toll on them.
Soon you'll no longer be husband and wife, but you’ll always be mom and dad.
"Most parents think there is a child support calculator that outputs a specific dollar amount for child support payments, and that’s that. But the reality is the guidelines are just a starting point for negotiations.
Plus, there are a lot of "add-on" expenses not covered by the basic child support amount.
That's why the best way to come to a fair agreement and ensure your children get the financial support they need is to mediate your NY divorce and work with an experienced mediator like me so you can make decisions as parents that are in your children's best interests."
- Divorce Mediator Joe Dillon
The Federal government requires all 50 states to have a systematic way by which to determine a basic child support obligation. So every state including New York has a child support guideline.
But the way child support is determined varies from state to state.
Some states use a simple percentage-based formula. You’d simply take a share of the supporting party’s income and give it to the other party and you’re done.
While other states are more comprehensive and attempt to factor in things like both of your incomes, the ages of your children, the number of overnights they spend with each of you, which one of you pays for their health insurance, who takes them as a tax deduction, and more.
But in New York, things work a bit differently.
Let’s take a closer look at how child support is calculated in New York as the NY child support model doesn’t fit cleanly into either of the models described above.
To begin, the guideline would calculate what each of your net incomes is.
Well, it’s not really your net income, but rather, what the State of New York calls your net income.
I'm no CPA or accounting professional mind you, but the State of New York's definition of net income doesn't reduce your gross income by Federal taxes paid. Which last time I checked, that's how most people do it...
But not NY, I guess?
So once you have all that net income business all figured out, you now apply a percentage to the number you came up with in step one based on the number of children you’re trying to provide child support for.
The New York child support calculator percentages are as follows:
Assuming you can do some basic math, it seems that all you’d have to do is multiply the percentage in the table above with the net income number you came up with in step one and you’d be all set.
Right?
I hate to break it to you, but it’s not that simple. Not even close.
You see, the percentages shown above are only applied to the first $183,000 of combined net income (that is net income as defined by the State of New York's standard in 2024) as that’s what the cap on the guideline says to do.
So what do you do if your incomes are above $183,000?”
Well, that’s where things get even trickier.
Dealing with the NY Child Support Cap
If you and your spouse do earn more than $183,000 per year in "net" income, one of two things could happen if you were to find yourselves in court.
The courts could either:
It’s truly anybody’s guess.
Whether or not there will be additional child support will be predicated on the following factors:
You’ll notice most of these factors aren’t even financial in nature so how the courts will apply them is a mystery.
So far, you've learned the NY child support guidelines attempt to provide you with an amount of financial support needed to raise your children.
In New York, there’s also something called “add-on child support.” This is in addition to your regular child support and child support on any income above the upper-income threshold.
These add-on expenses may include:
What the heck are non-recurring payments from extraordinary sources?
Good question! Non-recurring payments from extraordinary sources are expenses that you as parents incur but don't fall neatly into any of the expenses explicitly mentioned above.
Examples of non-recurring payments from extraordinary sources may include:
All of these items must be negotiated at the time of your divorce as there is no formulaic way to determine them.
Starting to see why determining child support is not as simple as using some free calculator you may have found on the Internet?
In addition to the regular and add-on expenses associated with having a child, you and your spouse will also need to discuss and come to an agreement on:
Making the list of what isn't addressed by the NY child support guidelines longer and longer!
For the NY child support guideline to be applied as-is, you and your spouse’s incomes must be predictable from month to month and year to year.
So if one or both of you earn more of your compensation from bonuses, commissions, or stock options, the guidelines simply won’t work.
Meaning if you and your spouse collectively earn more than that in a calendar year (and to live in New York City, chances are you do,) the guidelines won’t work "as-is."
And you'll have no choice in your case but to skip the guidelines and negotiate instead.
Which is not always so easy to do.
Sounds scary, doesn’t it?
That’s why it’s better to negotiate this issue out of family court and that’s exactly what mediation is all about.
In mediation, you get to decide as parents - and come to an agreement that puts your children first and you both agree is fair - out of New York court - instead of letting your future be decided by a stranger.
And as you’ve learned, there is more than meets the eye on this topic. So don't risk putting your children's financial future in jeopardy by trying to resolve child support payments on your own or with divorce attorneys in court.
Use divorce mediation and work with us instead!
One that covers all regular, add-on, and future expenses.
We'll:
Because no two situations are alike.
Your children are unique and your child support agreement should reflect that, too.
Early in the process?
The choices you make before you start your divorce are critical.
But you can only make smart choices if you take the time to prepare first! Learn how.
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