The Basics of Divorce Law - Child Support

According to Meislik & Levavy, the underlying principle behindchild support is that "children of divorced parents have a rightto be supported in accordance with the standard of living theyhad during their parent's marriage. The amount is based uponwhat an intact family with a certain level of income would spendfor their child."How do courts determine how much you pay in child support? Eachstate has its own guidelines that courts must follow whendetermining child support payments. Your family law attorneyshould be knowledgeable about those guidelines, which will allowthem to provide you with a preliminary calculation. However,these are merely "guidelines" and not "rules."How long do you have to pay child support? In most cases, childsupport payments stop when the child graduates from high schoolor completes four years of college. However, depending on thesituation and where your divorce takes place, these timelinesmay differ. Some states require you to continue paying ch...