CHILD SUPPORT
In Texas, child support is an award of monthly payments from one parent to the other for the support of the children. Generally, the court will apply the child support guidelines when determining the amount of child support paid.
The child support guidelines calculate child support based on the paying parent’s statutory net income. Statutory net income differs from actual net income.
A parent who has:
- One child will pay 20% of his/her net income.
- Two children will pay 25% of his/her net income.
- Three children will pay 30% of his/her net income.
This percentage is reduced if the paying parent is also paying child support for other children.
In addition to child support, the paying parent is generally responsible for providing private health insurance or reimbursing the other parent for the cost of the children’s monthly health insurance premium, if private insurance is available at a reasonable cost.