| What Is Decided At The DHHS Hearing? |
If there is no order setting a support obligation and no question about
paternity, DHHS will hold an administrative hearing (described in our
pamphlet about the DHS
hearing process). At the hearing, DHHS can decide these issues:
- What you owe for past support, including what you owe DHHS for TANF
(formerly AFDC) and MaineCare (formerly Medicaid) paid for your children, and what you owe to
the other parent;
- The amount of the on-going weekly support obligation; and
- Whether you must provide for the children's health care.
| What is my debt For Past Support? |
If you have a child for whom you have not paid support in the past, you
probably owe a debt for past support. That support can be owed to the
other parent or to any agency (usually DHHS) or person who has supported
your child. Typically, a debt will be owed to DHHS to cover any period when
the other parent received TANF (formerly AFDC) or MaineCare (formerly Medicaid) for the child.
The debt can go back as far as six years before the date of the Notice of
Hearing. However, the debt cannot cover more than that six-year period.
Figuring
the Debt:
The amount of debt for past support is the amount of support you should
have paid during the period for which you owe support. DHHS should do this
calculation using the Child Support Guidelines (described below).
In applying the Guidelines, DHHS should use actual income
amounts for the period for which you owe past support.
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Example
Suppose a mother and her 10-month old child received $300 per
month in TANF for the 10 months before the hearing. The total TANF
paid was $3,000 ($300 x 10 months). If DHHS finds that your support
payments for those 10 months should have been $25 per week, then
your total debt due the department will be $1,0075 ($25 x 43 weeks (10
months)), even if your income has gone up or down since those 10
months.
If the family did not receive TANF, your debt to the mother for
past support is still $1,075.
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Credits
To Reduce The Debt:
If you provided any support during the period for which you owe past
support, the hearing officer should subtract that amount from your debt. You
must notify the Department in writing of your claims for a credit within
10 days of the day you get the Notice of Hearing. Then bring
any proof of payment you have (such as cancelled checks, payment log, or
receipts) to the hearing. Types of support that the hearing officer should
give you credit for include the following:
- Money you have already paid to DHHS.
- Money for child support you paid directly to the other parent. (DHHS
may refuse to credit this money if it was paid to the family after you
were told to pay it to DHHS.)
- Things of value you gave to the family. For example, paying bills or
providing food or other things of value should be credited. If you own
the family home and gave it to your family to live in after you left,
you should get credit for the fair rental value of the home. The same
would be true if you gave the family your car to use. DHHS may claim
that you cannot get this credit after you got notice that all support
must be sent to DHHS. Try to claim the credit anyway. It is not the
type of support that can be sent to the State.
Receipt
of Public Assistance:
If, in the past, you have gotten TANF (formerly AFDC) and MaineCare
(formerly Medicaid), or
SSI, you do not owe any debt during the time that you were getting those
benefits. Also, DHS cannot collect any past support debt from you if you
are now getting these benefits for any of your children, or SSI for
yourself.
Preventing
the Debt:
The best way to avoid any debt for past support is to arrange to pay
child support as soon as your child no longer lives with you. If your
children are getting TANF, make arrangements to pay child support to DHHS
as soon as you learn that your children are getting benefits. Ask DHHS to
set your support as soon as possible so that you know exactly how much you
owe. For the time before your support order is set, ask for an account
number, an address to pay the support to, and a statement of the amount of
support DHHS believes you should pay.
DHHS is required to tell you if your children get TANF and Medicaid. The
notice may say that you should pay any child support to the State instead
of to your children. After you receive this notice, DHHS may refuse to give
you any credit for the support that you give directly to your family. To
be sure to get credit, pay your support directly to the State.
If your children get TANF, another good reason for starting to pay the
State right away is that your children will receive some or all of the
support that you pay on time to the
State. If you are paying a past debt for TANF, the State will keep all of
the money and your children will never see it. If
you are paying current support on a regular basis, however, some of the
money will be passed through to your children each month.
Always keep records of all the support that you pay to either the State
or your family. Sometimes the State makes errors. You need to be able to
prove how much you paid if there is any disagreement.
| How do I figure my Weekly Child Support Amount? |
DHHS will set your weekly child support according to Maine's Child
Support Guidelines. The Guidelines use a table (the "Maine Schedule of Basic
Child Support Obligation") that shows the
weekly amount owed based on the combined income of both parents. DHHS will
presume you should pay support according to this table.
Using
the Child Support Guidelines:
To do the calculations, you must fill out two forms. The first is the Child
Support Affidavit. The second is the Child Support Worksheet. You will
need the information from the Affidavit, and from the other parent's
Affidavit, in order to fill out the Child Support Worksheet. You can get
the forms from any district court clerk or DHHS office. You can also
get the forms from our
forms page.
If you don't have a copy of the other parent's completed Affidavit, ask
DHHS to give it to you. If DHHS won't do this, write to the DHHS hearing
officer and ask that the other parent be served with a subpoena requiring
that the information be brought to the hearing. If you don't have the
other parent's Affidavit available to you, you can use your best estimate
to fill out the Affidavit for the other parent. This will at least help
you estimate the amount of support that you owe.
Sample Affidavits,
Child Support
Worksheet, and underlined Child Support
Guidelines are linked to this material. [Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat
Reader to view these documents. If you need help downloading this free software
click here.]
To help show you how to fill out
the forms yourself, they have been filled out for a pretend family in the
following example. If you get confused, you may want to get help from your
DHHS child support worker or from a lawyer.
|
Example:
There are 3 children who live with their mother
during the week. Two are under 12 and one is 15. The mother's total
gross income for this year is $10,000. She pays $65 per week in
child-care for the children under 12. One child has diabetes, which
costs $20 per week in medication that is not covered by insurance.
The mother pays $10 per week for health insurance for herself.
The father's total gross income for this year is
$18,000. He pays $3,000 a year in child support for children from an
earlier relationship. The father also pays weekly health insurance
premiums of $40 of which $30 is for the children.
Using the Worksheet, the family's combined adjusted
gross income is $25,000. The mother's share is 40%. The father's
share is 60%. The Child Support Guidelines show a weekly support
amount of $48 for each of the two children under 12 and $60 for the
15 year old. Then the worksheet adds in the child care, medical
expenses, and health insurance costs to find a total weekly support amount of $271.
The support amount is then divided between the
parents, based on the percentage of income that they have
contributed to their combined adjusted gross income. The father must
pay a weekly amount of $132.60 ($271 x .60 minus the $30 that the
father pays per week in health insurance premiums for the children).
It is assumed that the
mother provides her share because she cares for the children most of
the time. The father must pay his share to the mother. |
Our forms page includes a
self-calculating Child Support Worksheet. Look in the Interactive
Forms list.
| What if my income is very low and I can't afford to pay? |
If your children live most of the time with the other
parent and your income is very low, look at the Table to
see if your income falls within the gray area at the low end of the chart.
If your income is in this lowest range, then find your support amount on
the Table using only your annual gross income (not both parents' combined
income).
|
Example
Your annual gross income is $10,800. You have
two children, age 5 and age 13. You are not the "primary
care provider." Your basic support obligation would be
$50 per week ($22 for the younger child and $28 for the older
child). You will still add to this amount your portion of
child care and medical expenses (see example above).
Note: If your annual gross income is
below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for houshold of 1 in 2005),
then your support obligation is capped at 10% of your
income. |
| What if both parents are providing "substantially equal care?" |
In 2003 a Maine law was passed, to provide an alternative calculation where both parents
provide “substantially equal care.” If this is your situation, your child support calculation gets more
complicated. Go to our forms page to get the additional form you will need:
Supplemental Child Support Worksheet.
If you still can’t figure this out, get help from a lawyer, or ask DHHS to do this extra calculation,
if it applies.
If both you and the other parent have very low incomes, so that your children need TANF, you should get
legal advice before entering into a “substantially equal care” situation. Such an arrangement could
disqualify your children from getting TANF.
| Am I responsible ror Health Care? |
You will be responsible for the health care costs of your children if
health insurance is available to you at a reasonable cost through a group
or employee insurance plan.
If the hearing officer decides that you must provide health care, you
must give written proof that you have gotten the insurance within 15 days
of receiving your support order. If you don't, DHHS can issue a Medical
Support Notice. This order requires your employer to provide
coverage for your children and to deduct the premiums from your earnings.
If you do not provide written proof of insurance, DHHS can also find you
liable for any medical costs paid by DHHS or the custodial parent on behalf
of the children.
DHHS can also determine what portion of uncovered medical
expenses you are will be responsible for.
If your children are on TANF, they will be covered by
MaineCare. Also, many children who do not get TANF can qualify for
MaineCare.
Note: If you are low-income and DHHS orders that you cover health
care expenses for a period when your child was getting MaineCare,
contact Pine Tree Legal Assistance.
| What If I disagree with the amount from
the Child Support Table? |
If you are uncomfortable with the amount of support shown by the
Worksheet, the DHHS hearing officer may order a different amount. You must
ask for a different amount and you must give a specific reason.
Reasons that the hearing officer will consider are listed in the
Criteria
For Deviating from Support Guidelines at the bottom of this page. If
one of those reasons applies to you, tell the hearing officer how much you
think you should pay and why your situation fits one of the reasons.
If you are "voluntarily unemployed
or underemployed" and could be earning more money, DHHS can
"deem" more income to you, setting a higher amount. DHHS
might also try to deem extra income to you if you make less than the
minimum wage. If you have a very low income and DHHS wants you to pay
more than you can afford, contact
Pine Tree
Legal Assistance.
Criteria For Deviating From
Support Guidelines
These are reasons that the Court may use to order a child support
amount that differs from the child support guidelines.
A. The application of [the 2003 law governing child support calculations where both
parents are providing "substantially equal care"] would be unjust, inequitable
or not in the child’s best interest;
B. The number of children for whom support is being determined is
greater than 6;
C. The interrelation of the total support obligation established under
the support guidelines for child support, the division of property and any
award of spousal support made in the same proceeding for which a parental
support obligation is being determined;
D. The financial resources of each child;
E. The financial resources and needs of a party, including
non-recurring income not included in the definition of gross income;
F. The standard of living each child would have enjoyed had the marital
relationship continued;
G. The physical and emotional conditions of each child;
H. The educational needs of each child;
I. Inflation with relation to the cost of living;
J. Available income and financial contributions of the domestic
associate or current spouse of each party;
K. The existence of other persons who are actually financially
dependent on either party, including, but not limited to, elderly,
disabled or infirm relatives, or adult children pursuing post-secondary
education. If the primary care provider is legally responsible for another
minor child who resides in the household and if the computation of a
theoretical support obligation on behalf of the primary care provider
would result in a significantly greater parental support obligation on the
part of the non-primary care provider, that factor may be considered;
L. The tax consequences if the obligor is awarded any tax
benefits. In determining the allocation of tax exemptions for
children, the court may consider which party will have the greatest
benefit from receiving the allocation;
M. [Deleted as of September 21, 2001]
N. The fact that income at a reasonable rate of return may be imputed
to non-income producing assets with an aggregate fair market value of
$10,000 or more, other than an ordinary residence or other asset from
which each child derives a substantial benefit;
O. The existence of special circumstances regarding a child 12 years of
age or older, for the child's best interest, requires that the primary
residential care provider continue to provide for employment-related day
care;
P. An obligor party's substantial financial obligation regarding the
costs of transportation of each child for purposes of parent and child
contact. To be considered substantial, the transportation costs must
exceed 15% of the yearly support obligation;
Q. A finding by the court or hearing officer that the application of
the support guidelines would be unjust, inappropriate or not in the
child's best interest.
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Notice
© Pine Tree
Legal Assistance
August 2005
Sometimes the laws
change. We cannot promise that this information is always
up-to-date and correct. If the date above is not this year,
call us to see if there is an update.
We provide this
information as a public service. It is not legal advice.
By sending you this information, we are not acting as your lawyer.
Always consult a lawyer, if you can, before taking legal action.
Please review our full terms-of-use agreement
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