{"id":322,"date":"2018-11-27T20:24:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T20:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familylawyernc.com\/?page_id=322"},"modified":"2021-01-27T19:47:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T19:47:12","slug":"child-support","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/familylawyernc.com\/?page_id=322","title":{"rendered":"Child Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Child visitation and child support rights are independent rights and are not contingent upon the other. Appert v. Appert<\/a>, 341 S.E.2d 342, 80 N.C.App. 27 (1986).<\/p>\n

\u201cChild support orders entered by a trial court are accorded substantial deference by appellate courts and our review is limited to a determination of whether there was a clear abuse of discretion.\u201d Mason v. Erwin, 157 N.C. App. 284, 287, 579 S.E.2d 120, 122 (2003) (citation and quotation marks omitted). \u201cTo support such a reversal, an appellant must show that the trial court\u2019s actions were manifestly unsupported by reason.\u201d State v. Williams, 163 N.C. App. 353, 356, 593 S.E.2d 123, 126 (2004).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trial court is vested with discretion to make adjustments to the guideline amounts for extraordinary expenses, and the determination of what constitutes such an expense is likewise within its sound discretion.\u201d Ferguson v. Ferguson, 238 N.C. App. 257, 265, 768 S.E.2d 30, 36 (2014).<\/p>\n

The trial court is authorized to order a child support award “in such amount as to meet the reasonable needs of the child for health, education, and maintenance, having due regard to the estates, earnings, conditions, accustomed standard of living of the child and the parties, the child care and homemaker contributions of each party, and other facts of the particular case.” N.C.G.S. \u00a7 50-13.4(c) (2019).<\/p>\n

Generally, both parents have an equal duty to provide support for their children. See Plott v. Plott, 313 N.C. 63, 68, 326 S.E.2d 863, 867 (1985) (\u201cToday, the equal duty of both parents to support their children is the rule.\u201d); see also N.C. Gen. Stat. \u00a7 50-13.4(b)the support of a minor child.\u201d). However, while parents have an equal duty to support their children, \u201cthe equal duty to support does not necessarily mean the amount of child support is to be automatically divided equally between the parties. Rather, the amount of each parent\u2019s obligation varies in accordance with their respective financial resources.\u201d Plott, 313 N.C. at 68, 326 S.E.2d at 867.<\/p>\n

\u201cChild support payments are ordinarily determined based on a party\u2019s actual income at the time the award is made.\u201d Williams, 163 N.C. App. at 356, 593 S.E.2d at 126.<\/p>\n

In determining the amount of a child support obligation, the judge must evaluate the circumstances of each family and also consider certain statutory requirements. Bowers v. Bowers, 141 N.C. App. 729, 731, 541 S.E.2d 508, 509 (2001).<\/p>\n

The trial court is vested with wide discretion in deciding the allocation of such expenses on a child\u2019s behalf:<\/p>\n

[T]he Child Support Guidelines . . . include a generalized, cursory instruction concerning how the court \u2018may\u2019 structure the responsibility for these uninsured expenses [which] does not in any way alter the trial court\u2019s discretion to apportion these expenses, described and applied in Tise, 107 N.C.App. at 150, 419 S.E.2d at 183. . . .[T]he Child Support Guidelines neither require the trial courts to follow a certain formula nor prescribe what the trial courts \u2018should\u2019 or \u2018must\u2019 do in this regard[.] . . . Given the wide discretion afforded[to]our trial courts in matters concerning the allocation of uninsured medical or dental expenses, then, such decisions cannot be disturbed on appeal absent a manifest abuse of discretion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holland v. Holland, 169 N.C. App. 564, 571\u201372, 610 S.E.2d 231, 236\u201337 (2005).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Child visitation and child support rights are independent rights and are not contingent upon the other. Appert v. Appert, 341 S.E.2d 342, 80 N.C.App. 27 (1986). \u201cChild support orders entered by a trial court are accorded substantial deference by appellate courts and our review is limited to a determination of whether there was a clear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-322","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nChild Support - FamilyLawyerNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/familylawyernc.com\/?page_id=322\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Child Support - FamilyLawyerNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Child visitation and child support rights are independent rights and are not contingent upon the other. 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