Although the law changes from state-to-state, and you should check with a family law lawyer in your area for specifics on child support law, when making a child support determination, judges must make specific findings based on real evidence presented to them at the time of the child support hearing.
You might ask your self: “What is real evidence?” and “What are the specific findings?” I’ll try to answer those questions below.
First, most courts rely on some form of child support guidelines to help them determine the proper amount of child support. The child support guidelines will be made by the legislature. At a very basic level, the guidelines are based on the gross income of both parents, minus certain exemptions. Think of it like your tax returns – you have gross income, you can deduct certain things, and then you wind up with a number you owe in taxes. Essentially, the same goes for a child support determination.
However, there is a lot of wiggle room and talking with a good family law lawyer is always recommended. For instance, in many cases, both of the spouses will be required to produce documents to the court which prove their income. Such documents include recent tax returns, pay stubs, W-2’s, and any other kind of document that conclusively shows income and expenses.
Once the documents are gathered, you will typically need to sign a legal document (sometimes an affidavit) swearing to what your income, what your deductions are, and that the information on the documents is true. Once your lawyer has drafted such a document or affidavit, he or she will use your tax returns and/or other documents as exhibits which will be attached to the court paperwork which is submitted to the court.
Once both sides have submitted affidavits and supporting documentation, the court will need to make specific findings. These findings could me no more than a recitation of the information contained in the affidavits and attached exhibits. However, if the parties are fighting and disagree over the documents (which, believe it or not, happens frequently) the court is going to have to make a determination on which party it believes. Again, this is where a good Dakota County divorce attorney comes in handy.
Lawyers know that when preparing a financial affidavit or other legal document, he or she will need to make sure that the factual claims made in the document are supported by evidence. In other words, it would be a bad idea to submit an affidavit where the client swears to his or income income but then fail to support such an assertion with valid documentation. Believe it or not, that happens frequently too. You should be aware that, in most states, the court is not obligated to rely on unsupported assertions and, in fact, the judge probably won’t use unsupported assertions when making the child support determination.
In sum, you should remember two things: (1) make sure your financial affidavit is concise and (2) make sure that the affidavit is supported by attached exhibits that prove your income and expenses.
Once you have done this, you will be well on your way to impressing the judge and putting your best foot forward when a child support determination is made.
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