Child Support

In general child support is controlled by Supreme Court Rule 14.
download the form and instructions for yourself Rule. Chart.

The court does not like to vary from the calculation. To do so the court must find that the form calculation is unjust and inappropriate in your circumstances.

The underlying theory of the rule is that as acouple you would have spent a regular percentage of your incom on your children, and should continue to do so. The court may consider special needs as a basis to increase these amounts.

Child support, as a general rule, continues until the child is self supporting.

The rule contemplates that couch potatoes should be pushed out of the nest after highschool. If your chidren want to obtain more skills, trade school or college, the general rule is that support continues to the end of their education, or age 22, whichever is first.

There is a widely recognized exception for the special needs child that can never reach the stage of being self-supporting.