Child Support:
Child support is typically set by state statute after a calculation of a number known as net resource income which, in its simplest terms, means the average gross monthly income of the paying parent less the federal income rate for a single person claiming the standard deduction, medicare and social security taxes, and the actual premium cost of insuring the children on health and dental insurance. After this calculation, the state statute imposes a percentage of the paying parent’s net resource income as child support. The nearly automatic calculation applies to net resource income of $9200.00 per month.
Child support disputes may arise in a divorce, in a separate modification suit brought one of the parents or in a suit brought by the Attorney General of the State of Texas.
It is important to remember that legally, the payment of child support is a duty wholly independent of the right to have access and possession of the child. The failure to pay child support does not entitle the custodial parent to withhold visitation from the non-custodial parent. The failure to permit visitation by the non-custodial parent does not excuse the non-custodial parent from the payment of child support.