TOPEKA—The state Supreme Court has adopted new child support payment schedules as a result of a federally mandated review of guidelines for the amounts of money to be ordered for child support, it was announced today. The new rates are effective April 1.
The Office of Judicial Administration emphasized in a statement released today that the revised guidelines do not automatically change any existing child support order. Rather, parents with existing orders will not be affected unless they return to court and a judge modifies it.
All states are required to review the rules governing how child support is established at least every four years. In Kansas, the Supreme Court has the obligation. To accomplish it, the Court appoints an advisory committee to review the economic basis of the guidelines and how often adjustments or deviations requested by one or both parents are approved by judges. The advisory committee consults with an economist, who reviews data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing trends in how parents spend money on children. The committee then makes recommendations to the Supreme Court.
The committee advised the Court that parents are spending more on children than they were four years ago. In fact, the amount of money parents spent over the past four years on younger children—aged birth to 11—has increased at a higher rate than spending on children 12 - 17 years of age. As a result, the percentage increase for children in the older age group has increased approximately 3 percent, while the percentage increase for children in the younger age group ranges from 9 to 12 percent.
For example, a divorced couple with one 15-year-old child and a combined annual income of $74,400 will share an increase of $33 a month, a 3 percent increase over their current obligation. If one parent earns 60 percent of the total monthly income, his or her share of the increase will be approximately $20 a month more than his current obligation.
If the same couple has one child who is 3 years old, they would share a combined 9 percent increase in their child support obligation, or $65 a month.
However, no one will see any will see any increase in their child support obligation without a hearing before a judge.
Although most of the Kansas Child Support Guidelines have not changed, there are other significant changes. One change, related to the overall increase in the child support, is new instructions giving judges the authority to consider the high cost of extraordinary expenses such as private education or premier sports. The number of families sending children to private education or enrolling the child in a high cost extracurricular activity has increased over the past 4 to 8 years. This new instruction is an effort to better balance those costs between the parents.
The current Kansas Child Support Guideline and the revised guidelines effective April 1, 2012, can be found on the Kansas Judicial Branch web site at www.kscourts.org.