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The Indiana Supreme Court has enacted a wide-ranging set of amendments to the ways in which child support is determined, including adding another method to analyze how much money it takes to support a child.
The new Rothbarth approach is based on the assumption that the amount of spending on children can be inferred by examining how the parents reduced spending on themselves. The methodology is based on 2013 to 2019 Consumer Expenditure Survey results and more accurately reflects estimates of child spending, according to a Tuesday order from the high court.
The order also adds clarity to the “rebuttable presumption” that recognizes the “existence of factors or circumstances which are unable to be incorporated in the formulas used under the Guidelines.”
A noncustodial parent purchasing school clothes is no longer on the list of situations calling for deviation, nor is when one of the parents is required to travel “an unusually long distance” for employment.
Among the additions to the list is when the parents “share the controlled expenses of the child” and when the children “spend different numbers of overnight parenting time with the noncustodial parent.”
“All attempts to deviate from the Guideline amount must include submission of the Child Support Obligation Worksheet and reason(s) why use of the Guideline amount is unjust or inappropriate,” the order says.
The order also addresses calculating parent time credit when a parent spends a different number of overnights with their children.
“In families with multiple children, a noncustodial parent may not exercise equal amounts of overnight parenting with all the children,” the added section says.
The three-step methodology to calculating parenting time credit is:
- “Determine the parenting time credit for the total number of children and each different set of overnights, assuming all the children are exercising the same number of overnights.”
- Average the different overnight parenting time credit dollar amounts.”
- The averaged parenting time credit shall then be entered on Line 7 of the Child Support Obligation Worksheet for the noncustodial parent.”
The procedure is consistent with the holding in Blanford v. Blanford, 937 N.E.2d 356 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010), the order says.
There is also a change to the calculation for child support when parents have split custody.
For uninsured health care expenses — such as bandages and over-the-counter medicine — that are kept in the purchasing parent’s home, the order says that cost is paid by the parent with parenting time when the expense is incurred.
“The parents shall share responsibility for uninsured health care expenses in proportion to their incomes,” the order says.
To promote compliance, the order adds that the court should order the parent providing health insurance to “provide insurance cards, claim forms, website addresses, and any other material to permit claims to be filed with the insurance carrier.”
Previously, 6% of the support amount was for health care, but the order says that model is out of date and “often required burdensome record-keeping.”
The order also includes updated schedules for weekly child support payments based on adjusted income and how many children there are.
The amendments are effective Jan. 1, 2024.
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