Albuquerque Divorce Lawyer Blog

The current New Mexico law governing child support as set forth in the New Mexico Child Support Guidelines provides that child support terminates once a child turns eighteen (18) or once the child is nineteen (19) if the child is still in high school. However, given the increasing importance of higher education in this country, many researchers across the country believe that parents should be ordered to pay child support for their children while they are in college.

The 2011 New Mexico legislature listened to those opinions and passed House Memorial 71, sponsored by Speaker Ben Lujan, which requires the New Mexico State Bar to form a task force to investigate how consideration and planning for children's post-secondary education should be incorporated into the existing law regarding child support.

The task force will be chaired by a family court judge and will consist of lawyers that practice in the area of divorce and family law as well as other professionals that work in related fields. The task force is required to report back to the legislature with an interim report by November, 2011, and a final report by November, 2012.

Any law changing the child support guidelines to require parents to pay for their children's post-secondary educations will have a major, long-term effect on divorce and paternity actions across this State. How any such an obligation would be implemented leads to a variety of questions.

For instance, will the support continue no matter where the child goes to school? Do parents have to agree on where the child goes to school? Will parents have to pay the entire cost of tuition, etc.? How will child support be calculated? Will children be required to work while in college? What is the obligation of the child to attend class and maintain performance? What grounds might there be for terminating college support?

There are certainly many other questions that will come up depending on the law's language and the circumstances of a particular case. While this discussion is clearly in the earliest stages, it is important for both lawyers and parents to pay attention to any reports issued by the task force. Any law that places further obligations on parents and families such as this should be viewed with great scrutiny. Parents and voters would do well to voice their opinions on this issue with their respective legislators.

Collins & Collins, P.C.
Albuquerque Attorneys

In New Mexico, parents are held financially responsible for providing for the care of their children's needs. As such, the issue of child support is governed by mandatory state guidelines under the New Mexico Child Support Guidelines These guidelines include a formula based on a number of factors that help ensure children involved in either paternity or divorce proceedings receive the proper financial support.

Each parent is required to report their gross monthly income using a child support worksheet that can be found in the family law section of New Mexico Courts website. This worksheet is generally non-negotiable and most judges will not issue an Order Adjudicating Parentage/Order Establishing Paternity or Final Decree of Divorce without it.

After reporting gross income, credits are given to each parent for certain allowable expenses. Allowable expenses are restricted in nature, typically only covering childcare expenses and healthcare premiums, including medical, dental and vision care. In order for childcare to be considered allowable, the expense must be incurred during time that a parent is either working or is out looking for a job.

Extraordinary expenses related to mental or physical health care that are over $100 and uninsured are also allowed. This would involve things like counseling sessions or orthodontics. These types of expenses would be converted to monthly figures or handled outside the worksheet in the Parenting Plan or other Court Order.

The New Mexico Child Support Guidelines also provide credits for extraordinary educational expenses, as well as communication and transportation costs related to long distance time sharing or visitation. However, these items are typically addressed in a parenting plan, not the child support worksheet.

Likewise, additional expenses, which are not the same as allowable expenses, are not directly considered on the worksheet, nor are they defined by statute. However, these too may be addressed in a Parenting Plan or other Order outside the child support worksheet.

Keep in mind, the child custody and/or time-sharing arrangement will determine which New Mexico Child Support Worksheet to use. Worksheet A is used when one party has primary custody. Worksheet B is used when there is shared custody.

Once the parties determine the appropriate worksheet to use, all allowable expenses are entered into the worksheet along with gross income figures for both parties, and when appropriate time-sharing ratios. From these statutory entries of income, expense and time-sharing, the monthly child support figure will be determined. Unless there is a very good reason to deviate which there seldom is, this is the child support!

Collins & Collins, P.C.
Albuquerque Attorneys