Washington State Department of Social and Health Services

Child Support Schedule Workgroup

Introduction

In the 2007 session, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill establishing the Child Support Schedule Workgroup. The first meeting of the Workgroup is scheduled for September 21, 2007. This web page will provide ongoing information about the Workgroup.

David Stillman, the Director of the Division of Child Support, was designated by the Governor as the chair of the Workgroup. There are four legislators (two from the Senate and two from the House of Representatives). The Governor appointed the other workgroup members, which include a law professor, a member of the Washington State Bar Association Family Law Executive Committee (FLEC), an economist, a representative of the tribal community, a superior court judge, a superior court commissioner, a representative from the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), a prosecutor appointed by the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (WAPA), a representative from legal services, an administrative law judge from the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), three noncustodial parents and three custodial parents.

Under Section 7 of 2SHB 1009 (Chapter 313, Laws of 2007), the objective of the Workgroup, according to the bill, is "to continue the work of the 2005 child support guidelines workgroup, and produce findings and recommendations to the legislature, including recommendations for legislative action, by December 30, 2008."

Would you like to be notified when we add new items to this page? You can sign up for our Support Schedule Workgroup listserv, and we'll tell you when we add things to the 2007 Workgroup Materials. New items will carry a NEW ITEM designation for two weeks after posting.

Issues to be Considered by the Child Support Schedule Workgroup Under 2SHB 1009

1. Should the support schedule and guidelines consider a parent's children from other relationships? If so, should the Whole Family Formula be the preferred method of dealing with this issue?
2. Should the economic table be expanded to include parents whose combined income exceeds $5,000 per month?
3. Should the economic table start at combined income at 125% of the federal poverty level and move upward in $100 increments?
4. Should the economic table have separate categories for children under 12 and children 12 and over?
5. Should child care costs and ordinary medical costs be included in the economic table or treated separately?
6. Which method should be used as the basis for calculations to create the economic table: the Rothbarth estimate, the Engel estimator, or some other method.
7. Should the self-support reserve be tied to the federal poverty level?
8. What rules should apply to imputation of income when calculating child support obligations, including such issues as whether the court should impute minimum wage earnings to a parent when there is not enough information regarding income before the court.
9. Should extraordinary medical expenses be included in the basic child support obligation or as a separate obligation?
10. Should the current presumptive minimum support obligation of $25 per month per child be adjusted or stay the same?
11. Should child support obligations be based on a parent's gross or net income?
12. How a parent's income from overtime or a second job should be considered when calculating the parent's child support obligation.
13. Whether the noncustodial parent's current child support obligation should be limited to 45% of net income.
14. Whether the child's residential schedule should affect the amount of a parent's child support obligation.

If you have comments related to these fourteen issues:

Contact the Workgroup at SupportSchedule@dshs.wa.gov. Your comments will be forwarded to the workgroup for consideration.

NOTICE: DCS has received a public disclosure request asking for copies of all emails sent to the SupportSchedule@dshs.wa.gov email address. The requester has indicated that this request will be renewed every day. If you send an email to this email box, your email is subject to public disclosure. You may wish to review the DCS internet privacy policy at this time.

Please note: DCS reserves the right not to forward any comments which contain profanity or threats, or go beyond the boundaries of civil discourse. If DCS staff determine that your email message violates these limits, we will respond and advise you that we will be happy to forward your comments if you are willing to edit the message appropriately.

Curious about what others have emailed to the Workgroup? When DCS receives an email at the supportschedule@dshs.wa.gov email box, we forward it to Workgroup members. Starting Monday, December 10th, we will also send these emails out on our listserv broadcast list. You can read the emails submitted to the Workgroup without subscribing to our listserv by visiting the archives at http://listserv.wa.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A0=SUPPORTSCHEDULEWORKGROUP. Alternatively, you can join the Support Schedule Workgroup listserv and you will receive notice of new items on the web page as well as copies of these emails. Note: When we forward emails via the listserv, we will remove any personally identifying information to protect the privacy rights of those submitting emails.

2007 Child Support Schedule Workgroup Meeting Calendar

Thursday, July 24, 2008 NEW ITEM
9:00 am to 3:00 pm
SeaTac Airport Conference Center, Beijing Room
17801 International Blvd. (Pacific Highway S.)
Seattle, WA 98158

Directions to SeaTac Airport

Thursday, August 14, 2008 NEW ITEM
9:00 am to 3:00 pm
SeaTac Airport Conference Center, Beijing Room
17801 International Blvd. (Pacific Highway S.)
Seattle, WA 98158

Directions to SeaTac Airport

Upcoming Meetings NEW ITEM

• September 13, 2008 – Vancouver (WA) Hilton
• September 27, 2008 – SeaTac Doubletree
• October 23, 2008 – Amsterdam room at SeaTac
• November 21, 2008 – Beijing room at SeaTac
• December 12, 2008 - Beijing room at SeaTac

Note: Upcoming meeting schedule is subject to change.

Want to find out what happened at prior meetings? DCS has contracted with a videographer to record the meetings of the Child Support Schedule Workgroup, starting with the October 2007 meeting. Each meeting is contained on a separate 2-DVD set, which can be purchased from DCS for our cost of producing the copy, plus postage if necessary.

To purchase a 2-DVD set for a particular meeting, you will need to send a check or money order payable to DCS. To find out how much it will cost, please contact Nancy Koptur, DCS HQ at NKoptur@dshs.wa.gov or 360-664-5065, and specify the date of the meeting or meetings. The cost of production may vary, depending on how many copies we order at a time.

So far, the following meetings have been recorded: October 22, 2007, November 30, 2007, December 14, 2007, January 11, 2008, February 29, 2008, March 28, 2008 and April 25th, 2008.
We will make videos of the three most recent meetings available for viewing on-line.

View Workgroup Meetings (Windows Media)

• 06/27/08-Part-1
• 06/27/08-Part-2
• 06/27/08-Part-3
• 06/27/08-Part-4

• 05/31/08-Part-1
• 05/31/08-Part-2
• 05/31/08-Part-3
• 05/31/08-Part-4
• 05/31/08-Part-5

• 04/25/08-Part-1
• 04/25/08-Part-2

here.