Paul Horton: Utah Child Support Guidelines

The State of Utah takes child support seriously and makes every effort to help custodial parents collect the child support payments owed to them. Anyone with questions about Utah child support payments and enforcement can get answers at the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance website. The guidance of a knowledgeable attorney is crucial in these matters.

The Utah Child Support Standards Act, known as the CSSA, governs child support guidelines across the state. There is basic child support, which is based on the first $130,000 of combined parental income, as well as incomes exceeding $130,000. There are add-ons for unreimbursed medical expenses and childcare.

Child support formulas

For parents with combined incomes under $130,000, the CSSA applies the following statutory percentages:

One child: 17 percent
Two children: 25 percent
Three children: 29 percent
Four child: 31 percent
Five children: 35 percent

The share of this child support is based upon the percentage of total income each parent earns. A parent who earns three-fifths of the combined income is responsible for three-fifths of the child support. There are also ten factors listed in the CSSA that the Court can consider when determining child support, including the following:

The financial resources of the parents and the child
The physical and emotional health of the child
Tax consequences to each party
The educational needs of either parent
Whether the child is receiving public assistance

Child support enforcement

Child support covers the needs of the child, including food, shelter, clothing, education and medical services. The Division of Child Support Enforcement provides custodial parents with assistance in obtaining the financial support and medical insurance coverage they need for their children. They also help locate deadbeat parents, establish paternity, and collect delinquent payments.

As of late February before the Supreme Court ruling came out, there were 37 states that had legalized gay marriage. Of those 37, 26 legalized it by court decision, eight (including Utah) by a vote in the state legislature and three by popular vote.

States not yet allowing gay marriage are as follows: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Nebraska.

The majority of the states now allowing gay marriage have legalized it within the last couple of years. There has been a tremendous movement around the country to approve equal rights for same sex couples, and it has caused quite a divide in states that have yet to legalize it. The process has been repeated over and over again in states legalizing same-sex marriage: a judge strikes down a ban, there are appeals, the decision is upheld and the marriages begin.

Some experts believe that all 50 states could have gay marriage legalized in their states as soon as the end of 2016. But if not that soon, it’s clear that the trend is going to be to continue to see legalizations. Not a single appeal protesting a decision to strike down a gay marriage ban has been successful. With federal judges across the nation consistently calling such bans unconstitutional, it would seem to be only a matter of time before it is legal across the entire United States, without the country ever having had to approve a constitutional amendment to make it so.