Child Support

The Rhode Island minimum child support guidelines take into account both the importance and expense of reasonable and necessary, work related daycare. Daycare must be work related in order to have the other parent ordered to pay their fair share.

Camp and babysitting could constitute daycare factored into child support

A camp during the summer could be considered daycare so long as it is being utilized so that a parent can work. The camp, of course, must be reasonably priced and necessary so that the mother or father can work. Daycare could also be a family member babysitting the children allowing a parent to work.

How daycare factors into child support in RI

The child support guidelines and worksheet are used to determine the proper amount of Rhode Island Child Support to be paid by the parent. The bottom line is that a party will be ordered to pay approximately the same percentage of the daycare that the party makes in relation to that party’s percentage of the combined adjusted gross income of both parties. The fact that the parent with physical custody is claiming the daycare credit for federal income tax purposes could lower the amount of daycare costs the non-custodial parent is obligated to pay. The noncustodial parent is also given a deduction off their gross income to account for the day care expense he or she must pay.

In the 2018 RI child support guidelines there was a minor modification to how daycare is factored into child support in Rhode Island.

Here are the most recent Rhode Island child support guidelines 2023

Rhode Island child support attorney

For example: If the husband makes $100,000.00 and the wife makes $50,000.00, the combined gross income for the parties is $150,000.00. Therefore, the husband makes 66 percent of the income and will be ordered to pay 66 percent of the reasonable and necessary work related daycare in addition to child support. There may be an adjustment to take into account the federal tax credit for daycare) This amount is added onto the minimum Child Support Guidelines amount. The noncustodial parent is also given a deduction off of their gross income to account for the day care expense he or she must pay.

RI Family Court attorneys

Rhode Island child support lawyer David Slepkow has written over 50 Rhode Island  Lawyer Written Law Articles. Credit cards Accepted. Evening appointments available. He also represents clients in RI restraining orders, Rhode Island divorce, child visitation, post Divorce, relocation and  out of state family law matters.

 

Many people are unaware that a child support amount established by the Providence Family Court, can be modified. The RI Family Court Court will require that the reason for the change is valid and that there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the prior court order.  If you are in need of child support legal advice in Rhode Island, contact a RI child support lawyer. A Providence child support attorney will make sure that you get the justice that you deserve in Rhode Island Family Court. Simply not wanting to pay child support established during the divorce or custody hearings is not a valid excuse.

Can I modify child support?

• You must file a motion to modify child support and serve the motion on the other party
• There must be a substantial change in circumstances to modify child support.
• A substantial change in circumstances include; loss of employment, decrease or increase of income of either father or mother, additional minor dependent and disability.

A child support order in Rhode Island can only be modified based on a substantial change in circumstances.

§ 15-5-16.7. Review of child support orders “In the case of a request for a review before the three-year (3) period, upon the request of either party, or upon the request of the state pursuant to § 15-5-16.2(c)(3), the amount of support may, in the court’s discretion, be modified if the court finds that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred in accordance with § 15-5-16.2….” Id.

Reviews after 3 years without change in circumstances

Pursuant to RI law, there must be a 10 percent adjustment in the child support from the prior RI child support order in order for a motion to modify child support in RI to be approved.

Every 3 years child support can be modified without change in circumstances

Pursuant to § 15-5-16.7. Review of child support orders,  a custodial parent in Rhode Island may request a modification of RI child support in Providence Family Court three years after a child support order was established or last modified. “Every three (3) years from the date the child-support order was established or modified, and upon the request of either party, or upon the request of the state pursuant to § 15-5-16.2(c)(3), the court shall review and, if appropriate, adjust the order in accordance with the child-support guidelines if the amount of the child-support award under the order differs from the amount that would be awarded in accordance with the guidelines. The adjustment of the order shall be made under this subsection without a requirement for proof or showing of a change in circumstances. In adjusting the order, incarceration may not be treated as voluntary unemployment that would prevent the motion from being heard or result in a denial of the motion. The periodic review of child support orders as provided in this subsection is in addition to the opportunity for review provided in § 15-5-16.2(c).”  § 15-5-16.7. Review of child support orders,

Retroactive modification of child support in RI only goes back to service of process

Child support in RI can only be modified retroactively to the date of service of process of the motion or petition to modify the child support order. “The court, in its discretion, may modify a child-support order retroactively only to the date that notice of a petition to modify was given to the adverse party if the court finds that a substantial change in circumstances has occurred; provided, that the court shall set forth in its decision the specific findings of fact that show a substantial change in circumstances and upon which findings of facts the court has decided to make the decree retroactive.” Id.

However, there are a few common reasons that the Court will allow support payments to be lowered. If you are in need of child support legal advice contact a child support lawyer in RI.

Disability

If the parent that is paying the child support becomes disabled and as a result of this disability takes a loss in income, the Rhode Island Family Court may allow child support payments to be adjusted according to the parties new income level. A disability in itself does not prevent people from paying child support.

Are disabled individual on SSI or SSDI required to pay child support?

• No. Non custodial parents on Social Security Income (SSI) are not required to pay child support support in Rhode Island.
• Non custodial parents receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) receive a dependency benefit which is for the dependent child.
• Non custodial parents on ssdi who have additional income over and above the SSDI payments are obligated to pay child support in addition to the dependency payments the child is receiving.
•  When calculating child support for non custodial parents receiving SSDI benefits with additional income, the noncustodial parent is given a credit for the dependency benefits received by the child.

Parents who receive SSI are not required to pay child support.  The obligor parent, receiving SSDI, may be obligated to pay child support if the child support amount is more than the SSDI dependency benefit. If the child support guideline amount is more than the dependency benefit the obligor parent must pay the amount of child support that exceeds the SSDI dependency benefit.

• Loss of Income

If a person becomes temporarily unemployed due to lay off or other reasons, the Court may temporarily adjust child support payments until that person returns to work. In addition, if the new job is at a lower wage than the previous employer, the terms of the support may be adjusted to meet the new income level.

• Change in Medical Status

If the child support payments included payments for special needs or daycare and the child no longer needs this medical treatment, or daycare than adjustments can be made to the support. However, any new medical needs that may arise for the child may result in an increase.

• additional dependent child

If either party has an additional dependent child to support, such change in circumstances may warrant a modification. There are other circumstances that may qualify for a change in child support. However, you must keep in mind that the reasons must be legitimate, and you must be able to prove those reasons in Court. A change in your lifestyle, such as deciding to move to a luxury apartment or buy an expensive car, will not convince the judge to change your child support payments so that you can afford these bills.

Surprisingly, RI Family Court still has a number of murky areas of child support law. The end conclusion, as far as these issues are concerned, are far from conclusively decided in Rhode Island. The lack of clear answers continues, despite these issues have been raised thousands of times over many decades in Providence Family Court. Today, I wandered around the 5th Floor of Providence Family Court and asked a numbered of seasoned Rhode Island Family Law Practitioners a seemingly simple question:

• Does child support automatically terminate when a child turns 19?
• Is a motion to terminate child support required when a child is 19?
• Do child support payments automatically stop?
• Why did my child support stop coming?

A lawyer for RI Child Support enforcement indicated that he believed a motion needed to be filed to set forth a prima facia case that the child is emancipated. Another lawyer in private practice opined that a motion is required but you cannot seek to collect the support after the child’s 19th birthday.

Another attorney indicated that support ends when a child turns 19 per the RI statute. Another stated, “that’s a good question.” A few years ago, I had a conversation with a RI judge who insisted that support terminates at 19 pursuant to the statute. Another Judge has stated that it is best practice to file a motion to terminate child support even if a child is 19.

The question seems simple enough!  But in RI, it is a big grey area.

There are conflicting laws and public policies involved here. There is one school of thought that says that the RI Family Court loses Jurisdiction of a child when the child turns 19 pursuant to the statute and therefore child support automatically terminates without filing a motion pursuant to the Rhode Island General laws.   How could the Providence Family Court enforce an order for child support for payments after a child turns 19 if the court has no jurisdiction to order support after a child turns 19?

The primary issue is the general rule that orders do no end automatically. This rule conflicts conflicts with the statute. One complication, to this issue, is that child support now continues indefinitely if a child is severely disabled.  CHAPTER 15-5 Divorce and Separation SECTION 15-5-16.2  Rhode Island Law

The law in RI is that a child support order is eligible to be terminated when a child turns 18 and graduates high school so long as the child is not severely disabled. Keep in mind, child support does not AUTOMATICALLY TERMINATE when a child turns 18 or when the child turns 18 and graduates high school. Child support should end when a child is 19 even if the child is still in high school

The case for yes- file a motion to terminate child support!

• If your wages are garnished, you have no choice.  YOU must file a motion. The garnishment will never end unless you file a motion and submit a termination order to your employer.
• You must pay your child support to the State of Rhode Island not directly to the payee parent. This means that a motion to terminate support must be filed even if the child is over 19. When the court terminates the support order, a CSS1 form must be submitted to the State of RI. Otherwise the support order will run on the system forever and there will be an arrears. The State of Rhode Island, if the payee spouse is receiving full services from the state, typically automatically stops the garnishment at some point after the child turns 18. They also stop the computer system from running ongoing support in the system. Numerous State attorneys have informed me this does not mean that the underlining order for ongoing support is terminated or suspended.
• If you have another child under the age of 19 under a support order, then a motion must be filed. This motion will effectively be a motion to modify support since the support order will not end
• If you have a direct pay situation and your ex is “crazy” you can avoid a contempt motion with an ex seeking to enforce an order when a child is over 19.
• A strong argument could be made that a child support order should not end automatically upon a child turning 19 especially when there is a child support arrears that needs to be litigated. A RI Family Court determination may be needed to convert the ongoing support order to an arrears order.
• The parties may not agree whether a child is severely disabled. This determination needs to be made by the Kent County Family Court Justice or Magistrate.

The case for no!

• If you pay child support to your ex-girlfriend or ex-spouse DIRECTLY and your child is over 19, an argument could be made that it is a waste of money to file such a motion. The rational for this argument is that the payee spouse has no recourse with the court since the court probably will not hold someone in contempt for paying support after a child turns 19. It could be arguably a waste of money to file such a motion. This assumes that there is no arrears owed, no issue of a child’s disability and no other child under the age of 19 as part of the order.

Does support continue indefinitely until a motion is filed?

There is another line of reasoning that states that orders do not end automatically and a child support order continues forever until a motion to terminate is filed. One potential justification for this line of reasoning is that child support continues indefinitely if a child is severely disabled. Therefore, how can a person play judge and jury as to whether a child is severely disabled especially if the issue is not clear.  Another line of reasoning is that orders do not just end automatically. Another rationalization is that there could be an arrears which needs to be adjudicated and if the support terminates who will determine the correct arrears amount?

Also, if support terminates automatically without submitting proper paperwork when the case is not a direct pay case, the computer will continue to run because a css1 form stopping support must be submitted. A css1 can only be submitted to stop support running on the system if there is an order terminating the support.  If a css1 form is not submitted the computer will continue to run on the computer system. This could cause a report of delinquency on a persons’ credit, a tax intercept, passport denial or license suspension.

To make matters even more complicated, if an obligor’s wages are garnished, he or she needs to file a motion to terminate otherwise there will be no order ordering the employer to stop garnishment and garnishment will continue forever. Another reason why child support may not automatically terminate at 19 is because there may be another child or other children subject to that order. Could the law really be that support stops for a single child but only if there is one child?

I advise clients to file a motion to terminate child support when the child obtains the age of 18 and graduates high school. This insures that there are no issues and no problems in the future.

If your child’s mother recieve Ritecare or Riteshare medical insurance from the State of Rhode Island for the minor child, then the State will file a case in Court against you. Under RI Law, the State of RI will request that you provide health insurance for your child. If you do not have a job or have a job which does not offer health insurance, then you must contribute 5 percent of your income to the State of RI to help the state pay for the minor child’s health insurance.

Cash medical contributions in Rhode Island

This cash medical contribution will be paid in addition to your child support and will be paid directly to the state of Rhode Island. The state must also give you a deduction from your gross income for that same cash medical contribution to determine the proper child support amount. This “deduction is set forth on the Rhode Island child support guidelines.

What is a reasonable cost under RI law? 

If you are offered health insurance through your work then you only have to provide health insurance for your child if it is available at a reasonable cost. Pursuant to Rhode Island child support law, a reasonable cost is up to 5% of your gross income.  If you provide health insurance to your child, then you are not required to pay a cash medical contribution.

Rite Care and Right Share is only available to RI residents who meet certain income qualifications

“If the Court finds that the coverage would cost the non custodial parent more than 5% of his gross income per month, the Court may order the non custodial parent to pay 5%, in addition to the child support monthly order. This would be taken directly form the employee’s income and mailed to the RI Family Court This serves to contribute to the cost of Rite care coverage that the State of RI pays. A custodial parent providing private medical coverage through her employer would receive the weekly cash contribution towards medical if the Court so ordered.” CSE

A RI child support lawyer explains the law of child support garnishment limits. Title 15, Sections 1672 and 1673 of the U.S. Code sets forth certain exemptions to state Child Support Garnishment.

The Rhode Island Family Court may only Garnish, “Disposable earnings.” Section 1672 defines “disposable income” as earnings after State, Federal and Local Tax.

How much disposable income may be garnished for child support?

• If a child support obligor provides support to another dependent child or is supporting a spouse then the maximum percentage of disposable income that may be garnished is 50 percent.
• If a child support obligor is more than 12 weeks behind on child support, then 55 percent of disposable earnings may be garnished.

What if a non custodial parent is not supporting another child?

• In the event that a non custodial parent is not supporting another dependent child or spouse then 60 percent of disposable earnings is the most that can be garnished.
• If a non custodial parent (obligor) is not providing support to a dependent child or a spouse and is 12 weeks or more in arrears in  child support then only 65 percent of “disposable income may be garnished.”

Federal law: Title 15, Sections 1672 

Sec. 1672. Definitions

      For the purposes of this subchapter:
      (a) The term "earnings" means compensation paid or payable for
    personal services, whether denominated as wages, salary,
    commission, bonus, or otherwise, and includes periodic payments
    pursuant to a pension or retirement program.
      (b) The term "disposable earnings" means that part of the
    earnings of any individual remaining after the deduction from those
    earnings of any amounts required by law to be withheld.
      (c) The term "garnishment" means any legal or equitable procedure
    through which the earnings of any individual are required to be
    withheld for payment of any debt.

Sec. 1673. Restriction on garnishment

    (a) Maximum allowable garnishment
      Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and in
    section 1675 of this title, the maximum part of the aggregate
    disposable earnings of an individual for any workweek which is
    subjected to garnishment may not exceed
        (1) 25 per centum of his disposable earnings for that week, or
        (2) the amount by which his disposable earnings for that week
      exceed thirty times the Federal minimum hourly wage prescribed by
      section 206(a)(1) of title 29 in effect at the time the earnings
      are payable,
    whichever is less. In the case of earnings for any pay period other
    than a week, the Secretary of Labor shall by regulation prescribe a
    multiple of the Federal minimum hourly wage equivalent in effect to
    that set forth in paragraph (2).
    (b) Exceptions
      (1) The restrictions of subsection (a) of this section do not
    apply in the case of
        (A) any order for the support of any person issued by a court
      of competent jurisdiction or in accordance with an administrative
      procedure, which is established by State law, which affords
      substantial due process, and which is subject to judicial review.
        (B) any order of any court of the United States having
      jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13 of title 11.
        (C) any debt due for any State or Federal tax.
      (2) The maximum part of the aggregate disposable earnings of an
    individual for any workweek which is subject to garnishment to
    enforce any order for the support of any person shall not exceed -
        (A) where such individual is supporting his spouse or dependent
      child (other than a spouse or child with respect to whose support
      such order is used), 50 per centum of such individual's
      disposable earnings for that week; and
        (B) where such individual is not supporting such a spouse or
      dependent child described in clause (A), 60 per centum of such
      individual's disposable earnings for that week;
    except that, with respect to the disposable earnings of any
    individual for any workweek, the 50 per centum specified in clause
    (A) shall be deemed to be 55 per centum and the 60 per centum
    specified in clause (B) shall be deemed to be 65 per centum, if and
    to the extent that such earnings are subject to garnishment to
    enforce a support order with respect to a period which is prior to
    the twelve-week period which ends with the beginning of such
    workweek.
    (c) Execution or enforcement of garnishment order or process
      prohibited
      No court of the United States or any State, and no State (or
    officer or agency thereof), may make, execute, or enforce any order
    or process in violation of this section.

                                AMENDMENTS
      1978 - Subsec. (b)(1)(B). Pub. L. 95-598 substituted "court of
    the United States having jurisdiction over cases under chapter 13
    of title 11" for "court of bankruptcy under chapter XIII of the
    Bankruptcy Act".
      1977 - Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 95-30, Sec. 501(e)(1), (2),
    designated existing provisions as par. (1) and existing pars. (1),
    (2), and (3) as subpars. (A), (B), and (C) thereof, substituted
    "for the support of any person issued by a court of competent
    jurisdiction or in accordance with an administrative procedure,
    which is established by State law, which affords substantial due
    process, and which is subject to judicial review" for "of any court
    for the support of any person" in subpar. (A) as so redesignated,
    and added par. (2).
      Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 95-30, Sec. 501(e)(3), inserted ", and no
    State (or officer or agency thereof)," after "or any State".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 95-598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section
    402(a) of Pub. L. 95-598, set out as an Effective Date note
    preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1977 AMENDMENT
      Section 501(e)(5) of Pub. L. 95-30 provided that: "The amendments
    made by this subsection [amending this section and section 1675 of
    this title] shall take effect on the first day of the first
    calendar month which begins after the date of enactment of this Act
    [May 23, 1977]."

Legal Notice per RI Rules of Professional Responsibility:

The Rhode Island Supreme Court licenses all lawyers and attorneys in the general practice of law, but does not license or certify any lawyer/ attorney as an expert or specialist in any field of practice.