Child Support
Child support is paid to the custodial parent by the non-custodial parent for the benefit of the child. Child support is most often calculated under the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines. Four adjustments can impact on the amount of child support owed by a parent, namely: preexisting child support obligations and responsibility for other children, payments for health insurance premiums, work-related child care costs, and extraordinary expenses for a child's medical bills, education, transportation, etc. Work-related child care costs are deducted at a rate of only 75%, thus taking into account the 25% federal tax credit for child care. Finally, extraordinary expenses encompass out of the ordinary medical, educational, and transportation expenses.
Child support may be modified upon a showing of a substantial change of circumstances, such as a significant increase or decrease in the income of the parties or the reasonable needs of the child.
Generally, child support terminates in North Carolina when a child reaches the age of eighteen, unless the child is still in primary or secondary school , in which case support payments shall continue until the child graduates, otherwise ceases to attend school on a regular basis, fails to make satisfactory academic progress towards graduation, or reaches age 20, whichever comes first.
