The duty of child support rests on both parents. When parents divorce, the parent who does not have physical custody of the child usually pays child support to the parent who has physical custody of the child. If both parents share custody, usually the parent with the higher income will pay child support to the other parent.

Federal law requires parents responsible for child support to name their minor children as dependents on any group or employee health or dental insurance plans. The only exception to this is if the parents can get similar or better coverage for the children at a lower cost.

Responsibility for Child Support and State Policy

In New Jersey, the responsibility for support of minor children is a continuous duty of both parents. The Court believes that minor children should not suffer economically as a result of divorce.

Child Support Guidelines

To assist the Court in calculating the specific amount of child support based upon certain factors, each state has set up "child support guidelines". These guidelines create a "rebuttable presumption" of the amount of child support that should be awarded by the Court. This means that the guidelines automatically are applied by the court unless either parent offers proof that special reasons exist to disregard the guidelines. If the Court agrees, it may choose not to apply the guidelines, however the Court must give very detailed reasons why it is disregarding the guidelines in the event that the child support order is appealed or changed in the future.

Factors for Child Support

Factors which the court uses to set child support payments are:

• The needs of the child;
  
• The financial resources of both parents;
  
• Income and assets for each parent;
  
• The earning ability of each parent taking into account their education, training, work experience, custodial care of children and child care costs, and the length of time and cost necessary for each parent to obtain necessary employment training or experience;
  
• Child’s educational needs;
  
• Age and health of the child and each parent;
  
• Income, assets and earning ability of the child;
  
• Responsibility of each parent for the court-ordered support of other persons;
  
• Reasonable debts and responsibilities of each child and parent;
  
• Any other factors that the court decides are relevant.