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Show J J ITbmaraJ. Hauge i The legislature is considering throwing out the controversial child support sup-port guidelines which were implemented last October and replacing the guidelines with a new version. After running some figures through both sets of guidelines, I didn't find much difference in the bottom line-that is, how much non-custodial parents par-ents pay in support There are many differences in the way the guidelines , are implemented and calculated which will result in different results in somecases: ' The income of the non-custodial parent is limited to a 40-hour work week. Second jobs arid overtime will not be considered. During extended visitation, child support is reduced by 50 percent rather than 75 percent, as is the case under the current guidelines. - Proposed legislative guidelines do not provide for higher amounts of support for older children. Support is the same regardless of the age of the child. The income of the parents is based upon after tax rather than gross income. in-come. The non-custodial parent is allowed to deduct alimony actually paid ' from his income, while die custodial parent has alimony included. " Other than these changes, the guidelines operate in basically the same ' manner. Some of the common complaints about child support have not been addressed: No accounting - Non-custodial parents commonly pay one-third to one- half of their take home pay to the custodial parent in child support. After making this tremendous financial sacrifice there is no satisfaction of knowing know-ing that the money is actually being spent on the children. A monthly accounting ac-counting does not seem to be too much to ask in return for several hundred - dollars a month in support Most responsible custodial parents do use the money to benefit the children and are happy to provide a record of how the money is spent No discretion - The philosophy behind child support seems to be that all ' discretionary monies ought to be removed from the non-custodial parent r and awarded to the custodial parent The custodial parent then is able to choose the child's clothing, decorate the children's rooms and decide whether to enroll the child in dancing lessons, all with the non-custodial parent's money. Non-custodial parents would like to participate in some of these decisions. Non-custodial parents sometimes like to provide piano lessons, les-sons, clomes and trips to me museum, rxit as long as aU meir oscred money is allowed to the custodial parent they will never be able to decide how their own money is to be spent T No credit for maintaining two households - The philosophy behind child support is that both parents should contribute to the needs of the children, chil-dren, including the custodial parent's expenses of housing and utilities. However, no consideration is given to the expenses of the non-custodial parent's expenses of maintaining a larger residence for visitation purposes. ,. The non-custodial parent is on his own when it comes to providing for visi- tation. j.'p. . If you have questions or concerns about the proposed child support legis-; legis-; - lation, contact your legislators. |