Child maintenance is paid directly or indirectly by an obligor to an obligee for the care and support of children of a relationship that has been terminated, or in some cases never existed.
[12] In addition, the right to child support, as well as specific implementation and enforcement measures, has been recognized by various other international entities, including the Council of Europe,[13] the European Union[14] and the Hague Conference.
While the issues of child support and visitation or contact may be decided in the same divorce or paternity settlement, in most jurisdictions the two rights and obligations are completely separate and individually enforceable.
In the United Kingdom, for example, the amount of support ordered may be reduced based on the number of nights per week the child regularly spends at the support-giving parent's home.
Support moneys collected are often assumed to be used for the child's expenses, such as food, clothing, and ordinary educational needs, but that is not required.
For instance, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, custodial parents are required to pay for the first $100 of annual uninsured medical costs incurred by each child.
In the United States, obligors may receive a medical order that requires them to add their children to their health insurance plans.
[32] Children of active or retired members of the U.S. armed forces are also eligible for health coverage as military dependents, and may be enrolled in the DEERS program at no cost to the obligor.
While procedures vary by jurisdiction, the process of filing a motion for court ordered child support typically has several basic steps.
[43][50][51][52] Guidelines for support orders may be based on laws that require obligors to pay a flat percentage of their annual income toward their children's expenses.
[55] The amount of additional money spent on the children (for expenses such as automobile insurance; AP exams; cell phones and plans; Christmas presents; educational expenses (trips, pictures, study guides, tutoring, AP and SAT exams, books, supplies, and uniforms); laptops; music lessons; parking fees; private school tuition; sports activities; and summer camps is computed and reduced to a table.
For instance, if the obligor has a change in income or faces financial hardship, they may petition the court for a reduction in support payments.
Likewise, if the obligor is spending more time with the child, they may petition the court for a reduction or even a reversal in support payments.
Conversely, if the child's expenses increase, the obligee may ask the court to increase payments to cover the new costs[57] Although both parents have the right to petition the court for a support order adjustment, modifications are not automatic, and a judge may decide not to alter the amount of support after hearing the facts of the case.
The payments are recorded, any portion required to reimburse the government is subtracted, and then the remainder is passed on to the obligee (receiving parent), either through direct deposit or checks.
[65] Within the United States, a 2007 study conducted through the University of Baltimore estimates that 50% of all child-support arrears are owed to the government to reimburse welfare expenses.
Half of U.S. states pass along none of the child support they collect to low-income families receiving welfare and other assistance, instead reimbursing themselves and the federal government.
The bipartisan 2006 Deficit Reduction Act and other measures have sought to reduce the amount of money claimed by the government and to ensure that more funds are accessible by children and families, noting that more obligors (paying parents) are willing to pay child support when their children directly benefit from payments.
Some countries and states have provisions that allow support to continue past the age of majority if the child is enrolled as a full-time, degree-seeking post-secondary student.
Compliance is judged by the paying party's performance in meeting the financial terms of the legal child support court order.
In others, such as Canada, the responsibility to enforce child-support orders rests with individual provinces, with financial and logistical assistance from the federal government.
The goal of such conventions is to ensure that noncompliant parents will not be able to evade support payments by crossing an international border.
Typical penalties include wage garnishment and denial or suspension of drivers, hunting and professional licenses.
In New York, continuous failure to provide child support is an E felony punishable by up to 4 years in prison.
[88][89] Barring unusual circumstances, most jurisdictions do not require accountings on the request of a child support payor.
[90] The custodial parent also has a duty to support the children,[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] yet in countries like Canada, it has been shown that "over a wide range of reasonable assumptions, the [custodial parent] does not financially contribute to the support of the children but in fact receives a net wealth transfer from the system.
[105] Child-support guidelines and policies have also been criticized for requiring boys and men that are victims of sexual assault to pay child support to the women who sexually assaulted them;[106][107] a precedent-setting case in US law is Hermesmann v. Seyer, whereby a male victim of statutory rape was required to pay child support to the mother.
[110][111] Melanie McCulley, a South Carolina attorney, coined the term male abortion in 1998, suggesting that a father should be allowed to disclaim his obligations to an unborn child early in the pregnancy.
[112] Proponents hold that concept begins with the premise that when an unmarried woman becomes pregnant, she has the option of abortion, adoption, or sole parenthood; and argues, in the context of legally recognized gender equality, that in the earliest stages of pregnancy, the putative (alleged) father should have the same human rights to relinquish all future parental rights and financial responsibility—leaving the informed mother with the same three options.
If a woman decides to keep the child, the father may choose not to by severing all ties legally (in the same way a sperm donor usually rescinds all parental rights).