RD397 - Review of Virginia’s Child Support Guidelines - December 2013


Executive Summary:
• Virginia's child support guidelines, set out at §§ 20-108.1 and 20-108.2 of the Code of Virginia, were enacted in 1988 in response to federal law. 42 U.S.C. § 667 requires states to establish guidelines for child support obligation amounts by law or by judicial or administrative actions. Guidelines must be reviewed at least once every four years "to ensure that their application results in the determination of appropriate child support award amounts."

• Virginia is one of only eight states never to have updated and revised its original guideline schedule.

• The original obligation amounts used in the guideline schedule were based on economic data from the early 1970s; therefore, the existing guidelines do not reflect the current cost of raising children.

• Federal law and Virginia law require the child support guidelines be reviewed every four years. 45 C.F.R. § 302.56 requires states to adopt child support guidelines that must:

(1) Take into consideration all earnings and income of the noncustodial parent;

(2) Be based on specific descriptive and numeric criteria and result in a computation of the support obligation; and

(3) Address how the parents will provide for the child(ren)'s health care needs through health insurance coverage and/or through cash medical support.

• Va. Code § 20-108.2(H) requires that the Child Support Guidelines Review Panel "determine the adequacy of the guideline for the determination of appropriate awards for the support of children by considering current research and data on the cost of and expenditures necessary for rearing children, and any other resources it deems relevant to such review."

• Pursuant to § 20-108.2(H), Panel membership includes representation of various entities affected by the child support guidelines. These groups include Virginia's General Assembly, the courts, the Department of Social Services, the bar, custodial and noncustodial parents, and a child advocate.

• The Panel vote to: retain the Income Shares model; utilize Betson-Rothbarth economic data; approve the proposed schedule known as Schedule E without medical expenses as the recommended Schedule of Monthly Basic Child Support Obligations for § 20-108.2; remove $250 per child per year in unreimbursed medical expenses from § 20-108.2(D) and add new statutory language regarding the presumptive statutory minimum to § 20-108.2(B).

• The new schedule provides modest increases, with greater increases at the very low and very high income levels. These changes are necessary and appropriate to reflect current economic data on the cost of raising children.

• The Panel recommends the General Assembly amend § 20-108.2 to:

(1) Adopt the proposed new schedule as approved by the Panel; and

(2) Remove $250 per child per year in unreimbursed medical expenses from § 20-108.2(D); and

(3) Add new language addressing the presumptive minimum to § 20-108.2(B).