In a hearing about your child support obligation an ALJ applies the Washington State Child Support Schedule in calculating your gross income, your net income, and your monthly child support obligation.
You may ask an ALJ to consider some or all of the following information:
- What deductions, including the amount of income you may be putting aside for your retirement, should be considered in determining your net income.
- Whether income from overtime or a second job should be included or excluded. The ALJ considers the reason a parent works the overtime or second job in making this decision.
- Whether or not to impute income to you because you are voluntarily unemployed or underemployed.
- Whether there are circumstances which would make it unjust to apply the self-support reserve (low income limitation) in deciding the amount of the child support obligation.
- Whether it is unfair or presents a hardship to the noncustodial parent to require the presumptive minimum payment of $50.00 per month per child, or why it would be unfair or would present a hardship to the custodial parent if the child support order was less than the presumptive minimum amount.
- If the obligation for the noncustodial parent's biological and legal children exceeds 45 percent of his or her net income, whether there is "good cause" (a sufficient legal or factual reason) not to apply the 45 percent limitation.
- Any other fact about either parent's particular situation that makes the noncustodial parent more or less able to provide child support than other people with a similar income and number of children, or that makes the custodial parent require more or less child support than other people with a similar income and number of children.
If you still have questions, contact your support enforcement officer at the phone number listed on the last page of the notice you received. If you are not sure which office handles your case, call the KIDS line at 1-800-442-KIDS (5437).