Child Support in Salt Lake City, UT

February 23, 2012
Arnold Wadsworth Coggins

In Utah, there are standard guidelines for child support. Most of the time your Salt Lake City Divorce Lawyer will plug in your income and your spouse’s income and depending on the custody the child support calculator will determine what the child support should be. However, this does not mean that this child support calculation must be followed. There is a statute in Utah that allows for the child support to be deviated from. The Utah statute is Utah Code Annotated 78B-12-202. There are seven factors when deciding whether you can deviate from the child support award;

  1. The standard of living and situation of the parties – if you children have had a really good standard of living this may be a good factor for you. This could show that you need more in child support to help the children continue doing their activities that they enjoyed or stay in the same school district.
  2. The relative wealth and income of the parties – this factor is here for the wealthy. This will help one party point out that children are accustomed to more and need more.
  3. The ability of the obligor to earn – this becomes relevant if one parent has advanced degrees or business opportunities.
  4. The ability of the obligee to earn – this is usually looked at if there has been one parent that was the primary care giver.
  5. If there is an incapacitated adult child then the Court could look to their ability to earn income.
  6.  The needs of the obligee, the obligor, and the child – this is a factor that starts to sound and act like alimony
  7. The ages of the Parties – This is usually relevant if the Parties are close to retirement
  8. Alimony or duty to support each other – this is usually just a calculation to make sure there is the ability to pay

“In deviating from the guidelines, the trial court must at least consider the seven factors listed in Utah Code Ann. § 78–45–7(3) (1996) and enter findings on all of these factors.2 See Allred v. Allred, 797 P.2d 1108, 1111 (Utah Ct.App.1990); see also Udy, 893 P.2d at 1100. A court abuses its discretion when it fails to enter detailed findings on each of these factors. See Allred, 797 P.2d at 1111.” Rehn v. Rehn, 1999 UT App 41, 974 P.2d 306, 312

At Arnold, Wadsworth & Coggins Attorneys, we offer a free consultation. Feel free to call (801) 475-0123 to set up a consultation in Salt Lake City or Ogden, Utah. We look forward to talking to you.