The legal community is often criticized, and lawyers are frequently the subject of jokes, but the legal community has a real dedication to children and their best interests, especially when it comes to child support. It is the law in North Carolina that District Court Judges must review child support laws at least every 4 years. In 2022, the North Carolina Conference of District Court Judges performed this task and requested input from judges, lawyers, and the public. As a result, new child support guidelines took effect January 1, 2023. These guidelines must be used and applied in all child support cases heard by the courts.
Note: There are two trial courts in North Carolina – District and Superior. These guidelines were developed by District Court Judges – the judges who are in the local courthouses hearing and adjudicating child support matters.
North Carolina Child Support Laws 2023
The new guidelines reflect current economic factors, including tax rates, consumer price index, and poverty level. The new guidelines include the following.
- One modification is directly related to the current federal poverty level, $1150 per month. If a parent obligated to pay child support claims that he or she is too poor to pay, the court uses the base mark of $1150/monthly ($13,800/yearly) for 1 person. So, if parent is making less than this amount, he or she will be ordered to pay a minimum of $50 a month for child support. This poverty level and minimum amount will likely change with time.
- Another change that the judges approved addresses support and high income families. To calculate child support, the basic formula requires the input of each parent’s income, the number of children, the number of overnights the children have each parent, and other basic income related information. There is a child support calculator/formula that can quickly determine the required support amount. However, if parents make more than $40,000 a month ($480,000+ a year) the child support worksheet/calculator is not used. This amount had been $30,000 month. These high income cases require judges to determine what are the child’s reasonable needs for health, education and maintenance with respect to the parents’ estates, earnings and standards of living. It is likely that this income number will increase in the future.
- Another revision concerns imputed income. In some cases, the child support recipient/parent may claim that the obligor parent has voluntarily become unemployed or is purposefully underemployed. (Lower income means lower child support payments) To be successful with that claim, the judge will need to determine that the obligor parent acted in bad faith. Case law will need to be monitored to determined what constitutes bad faith.
- And, the new 2023 guidelines now clarify that health insurance and health care costs does include the costs of vision insurance and uninsured medical expenses spent on vision care. Yes, parents need to be responsible for vision checks and glasses.
Other New Child Support Laws
Some other child support payment changes became effective in the Fall of 2022, including new methods as how payments could be made. If child support is court ordered and enforced by North Carolina Child Support Services, payments can now be made through Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo and Pay Pal. It is likely a safe bet that future changes will allow other consumer related payment apps. Also, parents can now use cash or a debit card to make payments at Walmart Money Centers. Long gone are the days where an obligor parent had to make all child support payments in cash and in person with the clerk’s office.
The law may seem slow to change, but the good news is that efforts are being made to increase support for children and their families. We will keep you posted on other changes as new laws are made.
Please note that parents may agree on a different amount of child support in a separation agreement. But, if the parties need the court’s intervention and help in child support, a judge will be obligated to use and enforce the child support amount that is generated by the child support guidelines.
