How Child Support is Paid in NJ

In New Jersey there are three different ways one can collect on a child support award that is granted per the terms of your divorce.  And while as a NJ divorce mediator I am all in favor of keeping it friendly, sometimes the easy route isn’t always the best route.  Before we begin, allow me to remind you of a few important facts about child support in NJ.  First is that child support is a non-tax issue. That means it is simply a transfer of funds from one party to another to cover their share of the parenting expenses for the parties’ children.  It is not deemed as income to one party or a tax deduction to the other – it is a completely tax-neutral transaction.  The second important note on child support is that it is the obligation of BOTH parties to pay child support.  While it may appear as if one party is actually paying, that simply represents the difference in the two parties’ shares.

How Child Support is Paid in NJ Option 1 – The Direct Pay Method

The easiest way to pay child support is to set up a schedule of payments on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis and simply write a personal check from one party to the other.   As I am fan of using technology to make things easier on everyone, you may also wish to consider setting up a regularly occurring debit from one parties’ account to the other.  This way the payments are made directly and there’s no need for one party to go to the mailbox and the other to go to the bank.  The pro of this method is that it’s easy and the con is that you’re trusting the other party to pay.  And while I’d like to believe parents will always do the right thing and pay their child support on time, it’s not always (sadly) the case.

How Child Support is Paid in NJ Option 2 – Wage Garnishment

In this case if necessary you can appeal to the courts for a wage garnishment as child support is a contractual obligation and enforceable with garnishment.  If you choose to pursue this route, you will need to first obtain an order form the courts allowing the garnishment and then work with the ex-spouses’ employer to have the garnishment put into effect.  The pro of this route is that the payment will be made in a timely fashion and is enforced by a court order.  The cons are that it may be costly to go to court to obtain such an order and it would most certainly be embarrassing for the parent who chose not to pay to have their employer know their business.  Then again, that may just be the impetus one needs to write that check and avoid the whole ugly mess of garnishment in the first place!

How Child Support is Paid in NJ Option 3 – State Agency

Here in NJ we have the NJ Child Support Payment Center which can help parents facilitate the payment of child support.  The pros of using such a service is that there’s no cost to either party and the state can get involved in the enforcement should it be necessary.  The cons are that again, it may prove embarrassing to one party and may create an extra layer of administrative burden but if you can’t go with option 1, then you’re really only left with garnishment or using the payment center.

If you have questions about how child support is paid in NJ, please give our offices a call at (908) 864-2177 and we’d be happy to help.

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Flexibility in the NJ Child Support Guidelines

As parents who are going through a divorce, the NJ Child Support Guidelines are intended to approximate the amount of money you spend on your children for their care and support and then assign an amount to each of you based on a number of factors too complex to go into here today.  However as the name implies, the NJ Child Support Guidelines are just that: guidelines and there is a fair amount of flexibility in determining an appropriate amount of child support should you as parents both agree on what that number would be.  And while yes child support in New Jersey is calculated, it doesn’t necessarily represent the exact amount you spend on your children, nor does it have to.

In mediation we use a budget based approach when it comes to the topic of child support and then calculate the guidelines to verify if the work we did with our budgets accurately reflects what your children’s true expenses are and then adjust accordingly.  The biggest surprise that most couples we work with find is that the amount of NJ Child Support calculated by the guidelines is usually lower than the actual amount of money you spend on your children as an intact family.  Add in things such as music lessons, automobile insurance and daycare which are known as “extraordinary expenses” and outside the calculated child support amount, and you’ll get a sense of the true amount of what you really spend on your children.  So while yes, I understand that some people view “the law as the law” and want me to type the numbers into the software and spit out the magic NJ Child Support amount, like every topic we discuss in mediation, it’s really not as simple as black and white but more like a thousand shades of gray…

So when it comes to calculating child support in New Jersey, there are three things to keep in mind:

1. Child support is an obligation of both parents – that is you will both be paying child support.
2. Children should not become the economic victims of divorce and therefore should receive whatever funding is necessary for them to survive and thrive.
3. You as parents have the right to agree to other child support arrangements than those calculated by the formula provided they are reasonable and have the child’s best interest in mind.

One last note of caution: the calculation of NJ Child Support is a complex topic and one best left to the professionals.  I’ve noticed there are a fair amount of “free” child support calculators out there but like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for and in my humble opinion, you shouldn’t risk your child’s well being on a free form you found on a website.  Call an Accredited Professional Mediator – you’ll be glad you did.

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Joseph Dillon is a NJ divorce mediator and Managing Partner of Equitable Mediation Services – a New Jersey based firm that provides client with divorce mediation in New Jersey and divorce coaching services to clients throughout the United States.  Mr. Dillon may be reached at (908) 864-2177.

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