Another Free Child Support Calculator - Indiana Child Support Guidelines

Professional Software Corporation has been creating and selling child support software for quite awhile.  My guess is that their software program is the most widely used among private practice attorneys.  

They have released a free version of their software as a stand-alone page.  While it does not appear to be able to create worksheets for court use, it is very handy for quick calculations.  The support amount automatically adjusts, and all of the inputs are on one page.  Check it out here.  I have also linked it along the right side of the blog under "resources". 

Since it is web-based, and all the inputs are on one page, it works perfectly from a mobile phone.   

The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines Revision Project Is Continuing

The Domestic Relations Committee posted minute summaries from their last two meetings.  This post will discuss some of the items noted in the summaries which are pertinent to the ongoing review of the parenting time guidelines (and some regarding the child support calculator).  My previous posts regarding this review are here and here.


At the November 2010 meeting members of the committee completed review of suggested revisions concerning "scheduled parenting time to occur as planned," in other words, how to enforce and encourage parenting time orders to be followed.  Committee members also discussed the effect of amendments on existing parenting time orders.


The following areas will be discussed at the next meeting: (a) Presume More Time for Noncustodial Parent, (NCP)/Protection of NCP rights / Overnights / Overnights for Infants and (b) Equal Parenting Time. The "next meeting" would have presumably already occurred as the meeting schedule is Friday, January 21, February 18, March 18, May 20, July 15, August 19, and November 18, 2011 from 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Judicial Center, as well as in conjunction with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Regional Meeting in Indianapolis on Oct. 27-29, 2011 in Indianapolis.  

The October 2010 minutes note that a draft of rule related to Parenting Coordination was circulated for discussion among the committee members.  The draft is not available for public comment/review at this time.  I have written about parenting coordination in previous posts.  I doubt parenting coordination would be given it own rule in the new Indiana parenting time guidelines, but I would expect a reference to parenting coordination in the guidelines commentary.  

Finally, at the November 2010 meeting, the committee noted the following areas of need as to the child support calculator: (1) The addition of a social security disability calculation to all calculators, (2) A quick input calculator for high volume courts, and (3) The development of a separate “income calculator” for the purposes of adding together various sources of income of parents for use in the child support rules and guidelines.

Lower the income, lower the child support: Indiana Child Support Guidelines

With the waive of a wand your divorce attorney can magically adjust your income to lower your child support obligation ... with some long words, a little posturing and a legal technicality your attorney can make your child support go away!  

Of course, this is not true, nor should it be.  While the child support payor might like to underpay his/her obligation, this would be horrible for children.  Yet, when faced with an obligation that looks too high the prospective payor will undoubtedly ask - what can we do to lower this?  Usually, nothing.  The numbers are the numbers, and for good reason the numbers are standardized and predictable.  But the Indiana Child Support Guidelines do allow for a "magically" adjustment to account for the 21.88% tax factor on which the Guidelines are based: 

In devising the Indiana Guidelines, an average tax factor of 21.88 percent was used to adjust the support column. Of course, taxes vary for different individuals. This is the case whether a gross or net income approach is used. Under the Indiana Guideline, where taxes vary significantly from the assumed rate of 21.88 percent, a trial court may choose to deviate from the guideline amount where the variance is substantiated by evidence at the support hearing.

When making this adjustment do you use the payor's effective tax rate or their tax bracket based on their income? A recent case answered this question as follows: 

He asserts that his federal tax bracket is 28%, but the trial court found that his federal tax obligation, as a percentage of his income, was only 23.3%. The trial court was correct. The Child Support Guidelines speak in terms of tax rates, not tax brackets.

See this a previous post that explains how this adjustment can be used to adjust the income not only high earners, but also lower earners.  Additionally, these adjustment can be made to either parent's incomes, not only the paying parent.  Adjusting the non-paying parent's income could have a significant effect on the child support obligation. 

For more on child support, including discussions on how the Indiana Child Support Guidelines were amended on January 1, 2010, and links to child support calculators, see our postings on child support.