New York Child Support Modification

Statutes

• N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 240(1-b) - Child Support Standards Act; Basic Child Support Obligation; Deviation

  New York uses a percentage-of-combined-income model: the court determines the parents' combined income and applies the child support percentage (17% for one child, 25% for two, 29% for three, 31% for four, and no less than 35% for five or more) to combined income up to the combined parental income amount set under Social Services Law § 111-i (adjusted every two years by CPI and published in the state Child Support Standards Chart), and prorates the result by each parent's share of income; for combined income above that amount the court uses the paragraph (f) factors and/or the percentages. Reasonable child care costs of a custodial parent who is working or in school or training, health insurance costs, and unreimbursed health expenses are added pro rata. If the obligation would push the noncustodial parent below the federal poverty guideline for one person it is $25 a month (unless found unjust or inappropriate), and if it would push that parent below the self-support reserve but not below the poverty line it is $50 a month or the difference between that parent's income and the self-support reserve, whichever is greater, plus any add-ons the court orders. The court must order the noncustodial parent's pro rata share unless it finds that amount unjust or inappropriate based on listed factors (including the parties' and child's financial resources, the child's health and special needs, the standard of living the child would have had, tax consequences, non-monetary contributions, a substantially lower income of one parent, needs of the parent's other children, and extraordinary visitation expenses), and any deviation requires a written order stating the factors, each party's pro rata share, and the reasons, which cannot be waived. An agreement that deviates must state that the parties were advised of these rules, what the guideline amount would have been, and why it was not used. Family Court Act § 413(1) contains the parallel rules for Family Court; modification grounds are in FCA § 451 and Dom. Rel. Law § 236(B)(9)(b).

• N.Y. Fam. Ct. Act § 451 - Modification of Child Support Orders

  The court may modify a child support order, including one that incorporates without merging the parties' agreement, on a showing of a substantial change in circumstances; incarceration is not voluntary unemployment and does not bar finding a substantial change. Unless the parties specifically opted out in a validly executed agreement, the court may also modify where three years have passed since the order was entered, last modified or adjusted, or where either party's gross income has changed by 15% or more since then, but a reduction in income counts only if it was involuntary and the party has made diligent attempts to find work commensurate with education, ability and experience. A modification may not reduce or annul child support arrears that accrued before the modification application was made, and a modification petition must allege facts meeting one of these grounds. A modification may increase support retroactively to the date of the initial application for support based on newly discovered evidence (§ 451(1)).