Child Outcome-Based Support: Arizona's New Standard?

November 16, 2010

Child Outcome-Based Support: Arizona's New Standard?

The goal of a child support award is a laudable one: ensure that the separation of a child's parents will not have a significant economic impact upon the child. The hope is that, by forcing the non-custodial parent to supplement the income of the custodial one, the child's standard of living will remain similar to that enjoyed prior to the separation. Nearly every state's child support system is built around the central idea that the child's fiscal interests must be taken into account before that of the parents themselves.

Clearly, putting the child's interests first is of the utmost importance, but the system is not perfect. Failing to take into account the new circumstances offered by changed living arrangements can result in an award that doesn't benefit the child and at the same time puts an undue burden on the paying parent. That is why states strive to find a workable and fair balance when making custody determinations and ordering child support payments.

What is the Current System in Arizona?

Arizona child support awards are currently, under state law, determined by weighing a number of different factors that could impact the propriety of money paid by the non-custodial parent and money received by the custodial one. The Arizona judiciary has provided a list of these factors on its website, and they are:
-Gross income of both parents
-Child support for children of other relationships (court-ordered support)
-Spousal maintenance paid or received
-Medical/Dental/Vision insurance costs (for children only)
-Childcare costs
-Extra education expenses
-Extraordinary child expenses (such as those needed for extracurricular activities, religious observance or other matters)
-Number of children age 12 or over
-Month and year of youngest child's birthday
-Number of parenting time days per year
-Court-ordered arrears paid by the noncustodial parent

What Changes Have Been Proposed?

The Arizona legislature has suggested a radical change in the way that child support calculations are performed. New guidelines, currently under review by the Supreme Court of Arizona, are based upon a decade-old academic work by Law Professor Ira Ellman and his wife, economic consultant Tara O'Toole Ellman. Their approach, known in the legal community as Child Outcome Based Support (COBS), differs radically from the current "Income Shares" system. It has been considered and rejected by several other states because it can be seen as a way to circumvent the intent of child support -- to provide for the needs of the child -- and instead as a way for a lower-earning custodial parent to surreptitiously seek a form of spousal maintenance by couching it in the guise of child support.

The COBS system puts emphasis on income of the parents alone (not mitigating factors like the remarriage of either parent, the addition of children to either parent's family or spousal maintenance/child support payments going to a third party), aiming to remove large disparities between the income of the custodial and non-custodial parents. The new calculation method would raise support payments for most non-custodial parents, in some cases doubling or even tripling the support amount. In cases where the custodial parent has a significantly higher income than the non-custodial one, however, support levels would actually decrease.

The new guidelines -- approved by the legislature in June of this year and awaiting approval from the state's highest court -- do take into account parenting time that the non-custodial parent has with the child, but gives that time less credit in the overall calculation.

What Are the Benefits of the New Law?

The proposal is seen by some child advocacy groups and legal professionals as a device in which to ensure that a child enjoys the same or a comparable standard of living as the one he or she had before a parental separation. The high-level theory behind the COBS principle is that a child suffers from having less in the custodial parent's home than he or she is accustomed to, so the playing field should be leveled by increasing the amount of financial support provided by the non-custodial one.

Could the Revisions Cause Problems?

Critics of the proposed changes argue that only looking at the income of the parents themselves is unrealistically limiting, failing to account for the possibility that one parent could have remarried, thus bringing additional income into the home, guaranteeing that the child is well-provided for and has an adequately high standard of living. Along that same vein, no consideration is given to additional dependents that the non-custodial parent may have, like additional children, elderly parents or siblings with special needs and any unique circumstances not reflected in his or her income.

What Next?

The legal community seems to think that the Arizona Supreme Court will approve the new guidelines. Challenges to the law may arise, but those would take time and could very well prove fruitless. If you have questions about current or upcoming child support issues, seek the counsel of an experienced family law attorney in your area to learn more.

Article provided by Wendy Raquel Hernandez
Visit us at www.hernandezfirm.com