2007 Child Support Schedule Workgroup

Child Support Schedule Workgroup

The 2007 Child Support Schedule Workgroup has completed its work.

The Final Report of the 2007 Child Support Schedule Workgroup was delivered to the Legislature on December 30, 2008. Based on the Workgroup's recommendations, Representative Moeller introduced a bill proposing changes to Chapter 26.19 RCW, the Washington State Child Support Schedule. On April 13, 2009, the Governor signed ESHB 1794 (Chapter 84, Laws of 2009), which takes effect October 1, 2009. The 2007 Child Support Schedule Workgroup does not anticipate any further meetings, actions, or communications at this time.

A new Child Support Schedule Workgroup will convene in 2011, and every four years after that as required by RCW 26.19.025. The Governor must make appointments to the 2011 Workgroup by December 1, 2010. For information on how to serve on the 2011 Workgroup, visit the Governor's web site at https://governor.wa.gov/boards-commissions/apply-serve.

Once the 2011 Workgroup is established, The Division of Child Support (DCS) will create a new web page for that Workgroup. DCS has used  the Support Schedule Workgroup listserv to communicate information for all subsequent Workgroups. As of December of 2017 our provider for this listserv is changing and if you have been a member of this listserv in the past we will be asking you if you would like to join the new listserv.

If you have questions or concerns about your own child support case, please contact DCS at dcs-cru@dshs.wa.gov. DCS will keep the SupportSchedule@dshs.wa.gov email address for all future Child Support Schedule Workgroups; between active Workgroups, we will store incoming messages for consideration by the next 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 was held September 21, 2007, and the last meeting was December 12, 2008. The Workgroup Report was delivered to the Legislature on December 30, 2008.

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 aNEW ITEM designation for two weeks after posting.

Workgroup Final Report

The Workgroups Report was delivered to the Legislature on December 30, 2008. The Report includes Minority Reports written by Workgroup members. Comments and/or Minority Reports submitted by non-Workgroup Members are posted on the Materials web page.

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:

The Workgroup has filed its Final Report and is no longer meeting. If you have comments on the Report, please send them to SupportSchedule@dshs.wa.gov, and we will post them to the Comments and/or Minority Reports section on the Materials web page.

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

NOTICE: E-mails you send to the SupportSchedule@dshs.wa.gov e-mail address may be 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 https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/WAESA/subscriber/new. 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

The last Workgroup meeting was December 12, 2008. There will be a new Workgroup formed in late 2010 to start work in 2011 (see section 5 of 2SHB 1009 2SHB 1009).

View Workgroup Meetings

We have recorded all Workgroup meetings since October 22nd, 2007.

If you would like to request a copy of the 2-DVD set for a particular meeting, please contact Nancy Koptur at DCS Headquarters, by phone at 360-664-5065 or by email at nkoptur@dshs.wa.gov. Let Nancy know the date of the meeting you are requesting and provide your mailing address. Because DCS has invested in technology to let us make our own copies at a minimal cost, we can waive the cost for copying and mailing the DVD for one meeting. However, if you are requesting multiple sets, there may be a charge.