
Once a court comes to a decision on the custody of children, they then must come to a decision on supporting the child. In the state of New Jersey, both parents are required to support their children financially. While only one parent can maintain physical custody, the cost of childcare is too expensive for one parent to handle alone. Child support requires the non-custodial parent to pay their share of the child’s care to the custodial parent.
Factors to be Considered
The state created the New Jersey Child Support Guidelines to create a formula used for child support. The formula factors in a number of things in both the parents’ and child’s lives in order to come to conclusion about how much the non-custodial parent is required to pay in child support. According to New Jersey, the guidelines acknowledge the following:
- The needs of the child
- The child custody arrangement
- The age and health of each parent
- The age and health of the child
- The standard of living of each parent
- Both parents’ economic situations
- Assets and liabilities of each parent
- The child’s educational needs
When do you stop paying child support?
A parent is only required to pay child support until the child reaches a certain age. This varies from case to case depending on the child. In most cases, in the state of New Jersey, child support is assumed to end when a child turns 19 years old. This may change depending on whether or not a child wishes to seek a college education. Because college is expensive, it may require additional payments from the non-custodial parent. In this case, the court may extend child support payments until the child graduates from college. Some factors that may require a parent having to extend college expenses are:
- The amount of money sought
- The capability of a parent to pay the costs
- The school and course of study
- The child’s commitment
- The child’s finances
- The accessibility of financial aid
- The child’s relationship with both parents
- The financial capacity of the parents
Contact
If you or a family member is seeking representation for a child support case, contact the Law Offices of Paone Zaleski & Murphy today.
If you require strong legal representation for matters of divorce and family law in New Jersey, contact The Law Offices of Paone, Zaleski & Murphy to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced attorneys today.