Child support guidelines updated

TOPEKA—Chief Justice Kay McFarland today signed a Supreme Court order updating the statewide Child Support Guidelines, which are used as the basis to establish and modify the amount of child support ordered by Kansas judges.

Most changes to the Kansas Child Support Guidelines, which were last reviewed in 1998, are technical updates. The Child Support Schedules which identify the financial obligations of each parent include an average three percent increase over existing child support orders. The schedules also include a reduction in the child support obligation in order to account for the additional cost of each parent maintaining a home following the dissolution of their marriage.

Existing child support orders remain unchanged until the case comes before the court for a modification hearing. Today's order is effective January 1, 2004.

Other key changes to the child support guidelines include:

• A reduction of between five and 15 percent in support is allowed for a nonresidential parent who has the children between 35 and 49 percent of the time. The new "parenting time adjustment" gives those parents who have the child a significant amount of the time but do not have shared custody the opportunity to petition for a reduction in their child support obligation to pay for additional expenses incurred by having the children more than the standard amount of time.

• The judge may consider an agreement between the parents to support the child past the child's 18th birthday when making an order for current child support. This will allow the judge to consider a reduction in child support for a young child or teenager if a parent pays into a trust fund to pay for the child's college or other expenses after reaching the age of majority.

• Parents may take advantage of health insurance coverage even if that coverage is provided by a step-parent. Currently, the court may only consider insurance provided by a parent even though most insurance companies allow coverage for stepchildren.

The Supreme Court order followed a two-year study of the existing rules by the Court's Child Support Guidelines Advisory Committee, which is chaired by Shawnee County District Judge Nancy Parrish. The advisory committee conducted a series of public hearings on the guidelines and accepted public comment through surveys and web-based technology.

Questions about the guidelines should be directed to the Office of Judicial Administration at (785) 296-2256 or by submitting an e-mail to KansasCSG@kscourts.org.