The court must allocate work- and education-related child care costs to each parent in proportion to the parent’s combined parental income for child support (PICS). The costs will be adjusted by the estimated federal and state child care credits.
If the obligor meets the income eligibility requirements for basic sliding fee child care, the court will order the obligor to pay the basic sliding fee monthly co-payment amount if this is less than the obligor’s proportionate share based on the combined PICS.
The amount allocated for child care is not subject to the automatic cost-of-living adjustment and can be modified if costs substantially increase or decrease. When the public authority provides child support enforcement services, the public authority must suspend collection of child care support when a party notifies the agency that the costs are not being incurred, and the agency has verified the information. The collection of child care support will resume when the agency is informed that the costs have resumed.
A court may allow the obligor to care for the child while the parent with whom the child resides is working or attending school. This is not a reason to deviate from the guidelines. Minn. Stat. § 518A.40.
This material and the material in the following posts has been copied from Minnesota’s Child Support Laws, An Overview, drafted by the Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department’s legislative analyst, Lrnn Aves.
This post is part of a series of posts on Calculating Child Support in Minnesota.