13 CSR 40-102.010 - Child Support Obligation Guidelines
(1)
General Provisions.
(A) Definitions-as used in
this rule:
1. "Director" means the director of
the Family Support Division or his/her designee;
2. "Division" means the Family Support
Division; and
3. "Form 14" means
Missouri Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rule Form 14 and accompanying Schedule
of Basic Child Support Obligations.
(B) The division shall follow, as its Child
Support Obligation Guidelines, Missouri Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rule
88.01 and Missouri Supreme Court Rule Civil Procedure Form 14 and the
accompanying Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations.
(2) Specific Provisions.
(A) Determining and Imputing Income.
1. The division will generally include
overtime, secondary employment, and bonus income when determining gross
income.
2. For a parent
incarcerated in a federal or state prison, the division will use actual income,
which may be the monetary compensation the incarcerated parent receives for
engaging in work or education programs while incarcerated.
3. Past earnings information may be used to
impute income. Information on previous earnings may be obtained from the
following sources, including, but not limited to, Division of Employment
Security computer screens, Internal Revenue Service, past employers, tax
returns, and wage stubs.
4. When
income information is not available, and information regarding the parent's
normal occupation or educational level is known, or special skills which
qualify him/her to maintain specific jobs, income may be imputed based on
probable earnings levels for his/her usual occupation, qualifications, and
prevailing job opportunities and wages in the parent's community. This
information may be obtained from sources including, but not limited to, the
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, local unions, or employers in the
area.
5. Income may be imputed to a
parent who is unemployed or underemployed based on the determination of the
parent's potential to earn income. A parent whose actual income cannot be
determined or who has no income will be imputed income as follows:
A. A parent who is not currently employed,
whether or not he/she has a work history, and is now disabled and unable to
work, or has a child at home whose condition or circumstance requires a
parent's presence in the home, will be imputed zero income;
B. A parent who has no work history and has a
child in the home under the age of six (6) years will be imputed zero
income;
C. A parent who has no work
history and has a child at home between the ages of six (6) and twelve (12)
years, will be imputed part-time (twenty (20) hours per week) at federal
minimum wage or minimum wage in the state where the party resides, whichever is
higher; or
D. A parent with no work
history, and no children under age thirteen (13), will be imputed income (up to
forty (40) hours per week) at federal minimum wage or the minimum wage in the
state where the party resides, whichever is higher.
(B) The parents must provide
information (court orders, pay records, previous Form 14s, check stubs, etc.)
regarding other child support obligations, spousal obligations, insurance, and
child care, for credit on the Form 14.
(C) Neither parent will be considered the
moving party if the division or a non-parent caretaker relative initiates the
modification. Both parents will be given credit for any other court or
administrative order of child or spousal support or for other natural or
adopted children not subject to this proceeding.
(D) To include extraordinary medical or
child-rearing costs, it must be ordered by the court or an agreement in writing
of the amount of any extraordinary medical or child rearing costs to be
included on the Form 14 must be signed by both parents and provided to the
division.
(E) For adjustments for
periods of overnight visitation, the division will follow the Form 14
Directions, Comments For Use and Examples for Completion of Form No. 14.
Adjustment for periods of overnight visitation will be given up to the amount
of visitation that has been court-ordered. If the noncustodial parent visits
the child less than the amount granted in the court order, he/she will only
receive credit for the overnight visits actually exercised. The parents must
provide evidence concerning the amount of time actually exercised in
court-ordered visitations. In determining the number of overnight visits the
parent paying support exercises, the division will:
1. If the parent receiving support and parent
paying support agree on the number of overnights, use the agreed number of
overnights;
2. If only one (1) of
the parents provide information, use the information provided;
3. If neither parent responds, use the total
number of overnights awarded by the court; or
4. If the parent receiving support and the
parent paying support disagree on the number of overnights and the conflict
cannot be resolved, use the information provided that will give the parent
paying support the largest adjustment without exceeding the court ordered
visitation.
(3)
Deviations.
(A) If it is determined the
presumed child support amount is unjust and inappropriate, the division may
deviate based on the relevant factors set forth in the Civil Procedure Form No.
14 Directions, Comments for Use and Examples or for any of the following
reasons:
1. A parent is under a Chapter 13
Bankruptcy plan;
2. The Children's
Division determines that in a foster care case the child support amount is not
in the best interest of the child. The Children's Division staff must provide
the reason in writing; or
3. The
parent obligated to pay support claims to the division an inability to pay the
presumed child support amount because the parent's reasonable shelter expenses,
or half of the shelter expenses if another person resides with the parent and
assists in these expenses, and the child support total is sixty percent (60%)
or more of the parent's gross monthly income. The parent to whom support is due
claims the child support amount is too low and that parent's share of the total
child support and his/her reasonable shelter expenses, or half of the shelter
expenses if another person resides with and assists in these expenses, minus
the presumed child support of the parent obligated to pay support equals sixty
percent (60%) or more of his/her gross income.
(B) The division may deviate to adjust the
presumed child support amount up to twenty-five percent (25%) if any of the
factors in (A) above exist or if a deviation reason from the Civil Procedure
Form No. 14 Directions, Comments for Use and Examples exist.
(C) If the total amount of children on the
order exceeds six (6), the division will add to the amount determined by the
guidelines for six (6) children, the difference between the amount for five (5)
children and six (6) children and add that amount for each additional child.
(D) If the parent receiving
support and parent paying support have multiple children and the support
obligations for the children are in different orders (i.e., multiple judicial
orders or a combination of judicial and administrative orders) and a
modification review is requested, the division may deviate upward or downward
so that when all of the obligations are added together, the obligation equals
the presumed amount the parent paying support should pay for all of his/her
children.
(E) If a judicial support
obligation exists between the parent receiving support and parent paying
support for their children, and the same parent receiving support and parent
paying support have an additional child(ren) not included in previously entered
judicial order(s), the division may deviate so that the amount the parent
paying support pays for the additional child(ren) is the difference between the
presumed support amount for all of the children and the amount in the parents'
existing orders. If the presumed amount for all the children is less than the
existing order(s), the division may enter an order for zero (0) for the
additional child(ren).
Notes
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