How Does the Court Determine How Much Child Support I Need to Pay?
According to N.C.G.S §50-13.4 the amount of support must “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.” North Carolina has presumptive guidelines for child support that the court must use in their determination unless it is determined that a deviation from the guidelines is appropriate. These guidelines are based on an income shares model so that each spouse will pay a percentage of their income for child support. The court can change the amount, however, if the guideline amount is not enough to meet the reasonable needs of the child. Also the court must order a parent to get health insurance for the child and the premium costs can be attributed under the guidelines.