Child Support Law

Child support laws vary from state to state and the legal information provided here is a general overview. Please consult a child support lawyer or legal attorney in your state for professional advice regarding the family law in your state.

Upon every judgment of annulment, dissolution, or separate maintenance, the court may order either parent or both parents to pay an amount reasonable and necessary for supporting a child. Child support shall be determined based upon the facts of each case. The court considers other children for whom either parent is leally responsible for support and other child support obligations actually paid by either party pursuant to a court or administrative order. In establishing the amount of support, consideration shall be given to the responsibility of both parents to support and provide for the welfare of the minor child and of a child's need, whenever practicable, for a close relationship with both parents.

The parents of a child born out of wedlock and not legitimized owe the child necessary maintenance, education and support. The father is liable to pay the expense of the mother's pregnancy and confinement. Legal adoption of the child into another family discharges the father's obligations (except the obligations providing for the support of poor relatives, and excepting when the adoption was fraudulently induced and the adoptive father's parental rights have been terminated). Proceedings to establish paternity and compel support by the father may be brought by the mother or other interested person, or, if the child is likely to be a public charge, by the authorities charged with its support.

If the defendant (potential father), after being served with notice, fails to timely respond to the notice or to appear for blood or genetic testing pursuant to court order, or to appear at the scheduled hearing, the court shall find the defendant in default and shall enter a default judgment against the defendant.

After a finding of paternity, the court shall establish the father's monthly support payment and the amount of support debt accrued until the child reaches majority (18 years old) or until the child finishes high school, if after majority. The court may order the father to pay amounts the court deems appropriate for the past support and maintenance of the child and for the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by or for the mother in connection with prenatal care, the birth of the child, and postnatal care of the child and the mother, and other medical support.