HB 1580 – AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
22Feb2006… 0985h
2006 SESSION
05/03
HOUSE BILL 1580
AN ACT relative to the child support formula.
SPONSORS: Rep. Bickford, Straf 3
COMMITTEE: Children and Family Law
This bill amends the child support formula so that child support amounts are based primarily on income and the amount of time that the child spends with each parent. The bill also directs the parties to file their child support worksheets with the court and requires the court to provide the basis for either adjusting or declining to adjust the guidelines for special circumstances.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
22Feb2006… 0985h
06-2981
05/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT relative to the child support formula.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Child Support; Definitions; Adjusted Gross Income and Child Support Obligation. Amend RSA 458-C:2, I-II to read as follows:
I. “Adjusted gross income” means gross income, less:
(a) Court-ordered or administratively ordered support actually paid to others, for adults or children.
(b) Fifty percent of actual self-employment tax paid.
(c) Mandatory, not discretionary, retirement contributions.
(d) Actual state income taxes paid.
(e) Amounts actually paid by the [obligor] person for allowable child care expenses or medical insurance coverage for the minor children to whom the child support order applies.
I-a. “Allowable child care expenses” means actual work-related child care expenses for the children to whom the order applies, up to no more than an annual total of $5,000 for one child, $9,000 for 2 children, and $12,000 for 3 or more children.
II. “Child support obligation” means the [proportion of total] support obligation which the obligor parent is ordered to pay in money to the obligee parent as child support as determined by the calculations set forth in RSA 458-C:3, II(a).
2 Child Support; Definition of Minimum Support Order and Net Income. Amend RSA 458-C:2, V-VI to read as follows:
V. “Minimum support order” means an order of support equal to $50 per month. There shall be no minimum support if both parents or parties have an equal child support obligation.
VI. “Net income” means the parents’ [combined] adjusted gross income less standard deductions published on an annual basis by the department of health and human services and based on federal Internal Revenue Service withholding table amounts for federal income tax, F.I.C.A., and Medicare, which an employer withholds from the monthly income of a single person who has claimed a withholding allowance for 2 people.
[(a) Federal income tax;
(b) F.I.C.A.]
3 Child Support; Definition of Percentage. Amend RSA 458-C:2, IX to read as follows:
IX. “Percentage” means the numerical figure that is applied to net income as part of the calculation to determine the amount of child support.
4 Child Support Formula. RSA 458-C:3 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
458-C:3 Child Support Formula.
I. Number of Children Percentage of Net
1 25 percent
2 33 percent
3 40 percent
4 or more 45 percent
The number of children in the same household for which child support is paid shall determine the percentage applied against net income.
II.(a) The child support obligation shall be determined in a separate calculation for each parent or party by multiplying each parent’ s or party’ s annual net income, as defined in RSA 458-C:2, VI, by the appropriate percentage derived from this section divided by 365.25 then multiplied by the number of days within the year that the other parent or party has residential responsibility for the dependent child or children, as specified in the court-approved parenting plan if one exists. The parent or party with the greater annual child support obligation shall be designated as the obligor and the child support owed to the other parent or party shall be based upon the obligor’s annual child support obligation less the annual child support obligation of the other parent or party. If both parents or parties have an equal annual child support obligation, no child support payment shall be ordered by the court.
(b) In cases where public assistance is provided on behalf of the dependent child or children and the right to support is assigned to the department of health and human services, the department’ s net income shall be zero for purposes of the child support guidelines calculation.
(c) The court shall determine the frequency of the obligor’s child support payments in the child support order.
(d) All child support payments calculated pursuant to this chapter shall be rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
III. The self-support reserve and minimum child support obligation shall be calculated as follows:
(a) If the obligor’ s gross income is less than the self-support reserve and the court has determined that the obligor is not voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court shall order the child support obligation in the amount of a minimum support order.
(b) If the obligor’ s gross income is greater than the self-support reserve but payment of the order as calculated under this chapter would reduce the obligor’ s income below the self-support reserve, the obligor’ s child support obligation shall be presumed to be the difference between the self-support reserve and that parent’ s adjusted gross income, but in any event shall be no less than the amount of a minimum support order.
5 New Section; Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. Amend RSA 458-C by inserting after section 3 the following new section:
458-C:3-a Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. At every hearing in which child support is involved, the party seeking the order shall file a child support guideline worksheet, as published by the department of health and human services, division of child support services, duly completed by either the party or attorney. The other party shall file a child support guideline worksheet if the guideline amount is in dispute. In any case where the court or court personnel complete or assist the parties in the completion of a child support guidelines worksheet, the worksheet shall be retained in the court file and made available for inspection at the request of the parties. In any event, the worksheet that results in the ordered child support obligation shall be kept in the file and available to the parties. The fact that the parties have agreed to an amount or may be requesting adjustments to the child support guidelines shall not suspend the requirements of this section. In cases where the other party has failed to disclose his or her income, a worksheet shall be completed using a reasonable estimate of that party’s income.
6 New Paragraph; Application of Guidelines. Amend RSA 458-C:4 by inserting after paragraph IV the following:
V. The court shall provide the calculations for child support and the rationale for deviating from the guidelines, including reasons why or why not there were adjustments for special circumstances in accordance with RSA 458-C:5.
7 Repeal. RSA 458-C:2, XI, relative to the definition of total support obligation, is repealed.
8 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2007.
LBAO
06-2981
4/20/06
HB 1580 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to the child support formula.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Health and Human Services and Judicial Branch state this bill, as amended by the House (Amendment #2006-0985h), will increase state expenditures and may decrease state revenue by an indeterminable amount in FY 2007 and each year thereafter. This bill will have no fiscal impact on county and local revenue or expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) states this bill will amend the child support guidelines formula so that child support amounts would be based primarily on income and the amount of time that the child spends with each parent. This bill also directs the parties to file their child support guidelines worksheets (CSGW) with the Court, and requires the Court to provide the basis for either adjusting or declining to adjust the guidelines for special circumstances. Pursuant to Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, the DHHS, Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) presently provides services to applicants to establish and enforce child support and medical support orders. DCSS is eligible to receive federal incentive funds based upon meeting specific performance measure benchmarks as set forth by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). These performance measures include paternity establishment, establishment of child and medical support orders, collection on current support, collection on arrears, and cost effectiveness of New Hampshire’s child support program. Enforcement of medical support is an additional performance measure being implemented by OCSE. With passage of this bill, it is anticipated that there will be a reduction in the amount of child support obligations ordered by the Court based upon the parenting time adjustment set forth in this bill. The impact on DCSS’ ability to achieve its performance measures is indeterminable. DCSS earns incentive revenue based upon the Division’s performance of five federal mandated measures and its total child support collections in a given federal fiscal year. A significant reduction in the actual amount of child support funds collected would have a negative impact on the amount of revenue earned. A substantial number of existing child support orders would potentially need to be modified by the Courts. Such modifications would require Judicial Branch and DCSS staff time to support. This bill will also require DHHS to develop a new Child Support Guidelines Workbook that is published annually by the Department pursuant to RSA 458-C:2, VI, and require an indeterminable number of staff to assist with drafting policy and procedure necessary for the implementation of this bill’s new child support formula. The Department’s Division of Family Assistance (DFA) administers various public assistance programs, including TANF and Medicaid. The fiscal impact to DFA is indeterminable, however, passage of this bill may have an economic impact regarding total household incomes used to determine eligibility for public assistance that may change or increase the amount of the grant. This bill may also change or increase the number of families eligible for public assistance. Additionally, the potential reduction in child support collections would reduce the amount of funds collected and transferred to DFA by DCSS as repayment of public assistance (primarily TANF) provided to families.
The Judicial Branch states the change in the calculation of child support should have little fiscal impact on the conduct of child support hearings. This bill does not increase the number of cases in the courts, although it may increase the number of hearings by an indeterminable amount in the short term as more parents under existing support orders may seek modification based on the new formula. The Branch states it would have to make programming changes to its child support calculator program which would have a one-time cost of approximately $10,000 in FY 2007. The Branch states changes regarding the child support guidelines worksheet, and providing calculations for child support and rationale for deviating child support guidelines will have no fiscal impact. The Branch states that while the bill applies to the modification of child support in existing divorce decrees, it does not give parties grounds to seek immediate modification. As a result, the Branch assumes the application to existing divorce decrees will largely take place only in the three-year review provided under RSA 458-C:7, thus the potential for increased number of hearings will be spread over this period. The Judicial Branch is unable to determine the exact fiscal impact at this time.