Office of Integrated Access and Support
Maine Child Support (Division of Support Enforcement & Recovery)
Maine Child Support Enforcement Manual
Chapter 6 - Child Support Guidelines
1. Applicability to Administrative Hearings
The Child Support Guidelines (19A MRSA §§ 2001-2009) apply to any proceeding in which the Division seeks to establish or modify a responsible parent's child support obligations.
2. Child Support Table
The following Schedule of Basic Weekly Child Support Entitlements (pp. 20-24) is the Child Support Table referred to and described by 19A MRSA § 2001(3).
The Table was created by Policy Studies Inc. pursuant to a quadrennial review of Maine’s Child Support Table. The design of the Table is based on a number of key economic decisions and assumptions. The Table uses the Betson-Rothbarth Estimator for estimating child-rearing expenditures. [David M. Betson, Alternative Estimates of the Cost of Children from the 1980-86 Consumer Expenditure Survey, Report to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation) University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty (September 1990); Lewin/ICF, Estimates of Expenditures on Children and Child Support Guidelines, Report to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Lewin/ICF (October 1990)]. Dr. Betson’s research provides estimates of the proportion of household consumption expenditures ascribed to children. These estimates have been realigned for Maine’s relatively low income. The most significant assumptions are noted below.
A. The Table is designed to provide child support as a specified proportion of the obligor’s net income. A table of child support based on obligor net income is developed before converting the tables to gross income. The tables are converted to gross income for three reasons:
- Use of gross income greatly simplifies use of the Table because it obviates the need for a complex gross to net calculation in individual cases;
- Use of gross income can be more equitable because it avoids non-comparable deductions that may arise in making the gross to net calculation in individual cases; and
- Use of gross income does not cause child support to be increased when an obligor acquires dependents, claims more exemptions, and therefore has a higher net income for a given level of gross income.
In converting the Table to gross income base, Policy Studies Inc. assumed that the obligor claims one exemption (for filing, two for withholding) and the standard deduction. This is the most favorable assumption that can be made concerning an obligor’s filing status. Obligors with more than one exemption, or with itemized deductions would have a slightly higher obligation under an equivalent net income guideline.
B. Tax Exemptions for child(ren) due support. The Table presumes that the noncustodial parent does not claim the tax exemptions nor the child tax credit for child(ren)due support. In computing federal tax obligations, the custodial parent is entitled to claim the tax exemption(s) for any divorce occurring after 1984, unless the custodial parent signs over the exemption(s) to the noncustodial parent each year. The child tax credit is given to the parent claiming the tax exemption. The Table presumes that the custodial parent claims the exemption(s) and child tax credit for the child(ren) due child support. Depriving the custodial parent of the exemptions means the custodial parent is receiving less support than the Tables provide.
C. Income assumed to be taxable. Because the Table has withholding tables built into it, the design assumes that all income of both parents is taxable.
D. Subsistence needs of the noncustodial parent.
- Self-support reserve. Incorporated into the Table is a “self-support reserve” for obligors. This concept allows low income obligors to retain enough income after payment of taxes and child support to maintain at least a subsistence level of living (i.e., the self-support reserve.) The self-support reserve is shaded in the Table. The obligor’s basic support obligation has already been reduced within the self-support reserve to allow the low income obligor to retain more income. If the obligor’s annual gross income, without adjustments, is in the self-support reserve, the amount listed in the Table for the number of children is the obligor’s basic support obligation, regardless of the parties’ combined gross income. The obligor’s proportional share of childcare, health insurance premiums and extraordinary medical expenses are added to the basic support obligation to determine the obligor’s total support obligation.
- Federal poverty calculation. Obligors earning less than the federal poverty wage for one person, regardless of the number of people in the obligor’s household, pay no more than 10% of the obligor’s weekly gross income as a weekly parental support obligation for all the children for whom a support award is being established or modified, regardless of the parties’ combined annual gross income. This calculation is done for each family and deductions from the obligor’s gross income are not made for other families.
E. The Table does not include expenditures on child care, extraordinary medical, and the child’s share of health insurance costs. The Table is based on economic data that represents estimates of total expenditures on child-rearing costs up to age 18. The major categories of expenditures include food, housing, home furnishings, utilities, transportation, clothing, education, and recreation. Excluded from these figures are average expenditures for child care, children’s’ extraordinary medical care, and the children’s’ share of health insurance. These costs are deducted from the base amounts used to establish the Table because they are added to child support obligations as actually incurred in individual cases. Deducting these expenditures from the base amounts avoids double-costing them in the child support calculation.
F. The Table includes expenditures on ordinary medical care. Although expenditures for the children’s extraordinary medical care and the children’s share of health insurance are to be added to the child support obligation as actually incurred in individual cases, it is assumed that parents will make some expenditures on behalf of the children’s ordinary (i.e. out-of-pocket expenses not covered by insurance) medical care. The Table is based on the assumption that expenditures on ordinary medical care are $250 per year per child.
G. The Table considers the age of the child. Child-rearing expenditures are averaged for children across the entire age range of 0 – 17 years then later adjusted for age of the child: 0 – 11 years old; and 12 – 17 years old. Expenditures are higher for teen-aged children, and lower for pre-teen children.
H. Visitation costs are not factored into the Table. Since the Table is based on expenditures for children in intact households, there is no consideration given for visitation costs. Taking such costs into account would be further complicated by the variability in actual visitation patterns and the duplicative nature of many costs incurred for visitation (e.g. housing, home furnishings).
Maine Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligation
