New Jersey Child Support

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The latter half of the twentieth century saw a tremendous increase in the divorce rates in many parts of the world, including the United States. One of the direct consequences of this was the increase in the number of 'single parent households'. As a good number of families turned to public aid for supporting themselves, the nation felt the need of creating a program that will put an end to the problem. This led to the creation of IV-D program in 1975. According to this program, every state in the USA was required to chalk out its own rules pertaining to child support. New Jersey had also participated in this program to provide justice to children of divorced parents. As a result New Jersey divorce child support guidelines are developed to support children in a way that is consistence with their parents' standard of living.

Here we provide some fundamental aspects of these guidelines so that parents can educate themselves regarding this topic.

Factors considered by court in New Jersey Divorce Child Support

The court takes into account the following factors while determining the award of support:

• Reasonable liabilities and debts of each parent and child
• Responsibility of parents regarding the support ordered by the court for other children
• Earning capacity, assets and income of the child
• Health and age of each parent as well as the child
• The necessity and ability of the child regarding education, inclusive of higher education
• The earning capacity of each parent, inclusive of the following issues
  • Employment skills
  • Work experience
  • Educational background
  • Training
  • Custodial responsibility of children
  • The expenses of child care
  • The duration and expenses essential for each parent to procure experience and training for a proper job
  • All the existing assets and income of each parent
  • The economic conditions and standard of living of both the father and the mother
  • Any other relevant issues

A custodial parent or guardian may receive the support amount in any of the ways mentioned below:

• State Child Support Program: As mandated by the federal law, this program must assist the custodial parents in obtaining the financial aid that they deserve for their children. For this service, the program charges a one-time fee of $6.00.
• Direct Pay
• Private Collection Agencies
• Attorneys

Enforcement Measures

In this state, getting child support is considered to be the legal right of children when their parents get divorced. As per the law, no parent has the right to waive these payments. Thus, failure to disburse the support amount is equivalent to violation of the child's rights. If any parent has not received the due amount, the following methods can be used as enforcement measures on the defaulter parent:

• Putting a lien on the assets such as cars, boats, real estate, insurance proceeds, bank accounts
• Garnishment of wages
• Obtaining future payments via probation department
• Filing an enforcement motion in the court
• Suspension of business licenses
• Sending reports to credit reporting agency
• Confiscating settlements and civil awards
• Interception of tax refunds and lottery prize
• Denial of passport to parents owing more than $2500 as past support amount

Brief information about income withholding

As per the federal law, the income withholding method should be employed regarding this topic. This method is as follows:

• The support payment is automatically subtracted from the paycheck of the non-custodial payment.
• The employer forwards the check of the pertinent amount to the child support agency.
• This agency makes the payment to the custodial parent.

• The non-custodial parent can fulfill his/her obligation easily.
• The custodial parent can receive regular and timely payments.

The Income Withholding method is applicable to disability payments, Social Security benefits, unemployment benefits or any other income of the non-custodial parent.

In some cases, the court may order some other method of disbursal of support. In this order, it may be stated that the amount must be paid on a monthly, bi-monthly or weekly basis.

New Jersey Child Support Institute (NJCSI)

NJCSI is collaboration amongst the following organizations:

• New Jersey's Office of Child Support Services
• The School of Social Work at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
• County Welfare Agencies
• The New Jersey Judiciary

The NJCSI offers consummate training for professionals that work for the Child Support Program of this state. There are more than 2,500 workers who are benefited by this program. This institute drafts all the curricular materials inclusive of hands-on computer simulations.

All this information regarding New Jersey divorce child support will definitely prove helpful in understanding the legal responsibilities of divorced parents towards their children. This knowledge, in turn, will help them to act legally and honestly.

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