This article is offered for purposes of general information and does not create any attorney-client relationship.
Child support in Texas is usually calculated as a percentage of the net income of the person ordered to pay child support. Net income here is generally defined as your income after federal withholding and the cost of providing health insurance for the children. There are a few other deductions that can apply, such as union dues, but these are relatively rare in Texas.
If you are not employed, a court will usually set your child support based on what you would make if you were employed full time and making the federal minimum wage.
There is an exception for voluntary underemployment or unemployment. If the court believes the person could readily make more money and are choosing not to, such as if they are taking time off from work to pursue their education, the court may set child support based on the income the court believes the person could make.
Another exception is for a person who is disabled. If a person is disabled, the court may not set child support at all. However, the court is likely to expect clear proof of a legitimate disability, such as a finding of disability from the Social Security department.
A court also should not order child support for a person who is in jail or prison, provided they are going to be there for more than ninety days. A short jail stay, such as for tickets, will not stop the court from ordering child support, but a prison sentence generally will.
Note that the percentage is often applied only up to a certain maximum monthly net income. As of this writing, that amount is $9,200 per month, but it changes periodically. So, if a person makes more than $9,200 in net income per month, the court will likely set child support as though the person makes $9,200. This problem is obviously very rare.
Some people have variable income. For example, some people work in a job that sometimes gives them overtime, but not every week. In this case, a court is likely to look at what the person's average income is, taking into account both the weeks they get overtime and the weeks they do not.
If a person works more than one job, all the jobs they work will probably be taken into account in setting child support.
The percentage the court uses to calculate child support depends on the number of children the person is being ordered to support. Generally, for one child, it is 20%, for two children it is 25%, and so on. There is an exception for people who have a net income of less than $1,000 per month. In that case, the person will be ordered to pay 15% for one child, 20% for two children, and so on.
Also, if the person being ordered to pay child support has other children, that may affect the percentage. Other children are only counted for this purpose if the person is under a court order to support them or if they live with the person. Even then, the effect of additional children is not very large. For example, if a person has one child in a current child support case, and another child who lives them, instead of the court ordering the person to pay 20% of their net income in child support, the court will order 17.5%.
A person being ordered to pay child support will also usually be ordered to provide medical and dental insurance. If the person has medical and dental insurance available to them at a reasonable cost, such as through their job, they may be ordered to put the children on that insurance. If on the other hand the other parent has insurance available through THEIR job, the person paying child support may be ordered to reimburse the other parent the cost of putting the child on that insurance. Finally, in some cases the court may order that the children be placed on Medicaid. In that case, the person paying child support will probably be ordered to pay the State of Texas money every month for keeping the children on Medicaid.
If you are being ordered to pay child support, you may be allowed to choose how medical support will be provided. In this case, you should consider what is most cost effective for you, but also what option will best provide for your children's medical needs. For example, it may be that insurance for your children through your the other parent's employer is cheaper than insurance through your employer. In that case, it may make the most sense for the children to be insured throug the other parent's employment and for you to pay the other parent the cost of that.
It is also sometimes possible to buy reasonable insurance through the HealthCare.gov. However, if you purchase insurance for your children privately, through HealthCare.gov or otherwise, you should make sure that the insurance actually pays for the main medical needs of your children. Insurance plans that do not cover any services until a high deductible has been met will not be any use to your children. It may save you money, but if that comes at the cost of your children's health, it is a bad decision.
There is a maximum amount that a person can be ordered to pay for medical support. That amount is 9% of their resources, but here it is pre-tax resources. For dental support, the maximum is 1.5%, again of their gross resources.
In addition to this, if there are uninsured medical expenses, such as copayments, the parents will usually be ordered to split them equally between them.
There are serious problems with the Texas child support system. One problem is that it is often possible for people who are self-employed or work in the informal economy to hide the amount of income they have and pay much less child support than they actually should. In this way, a parent is effectively stealing bread out of their own child's mouth, which is a despicable thing to do. However, it often does succeed.
Another problem is that child support can be very difficult to collect. If a person works at regular employment in the formal economy, their employer can be sent a wage withholding order, and the child support will be automatically deducted from each pay check by their employer. In other cases, however, if a person does not pay, collection may be a difficult, lengthy, and even expensive process.
You can read more about the law on child support in Chapter 154 of the Texas Family Code.