Child Support

Generally, a referee or support magistrate will be the person who is in charge of child support proceedings, not a judge.¹ S/he almost always uses set guidelines in a child support obligation worksheet to determine how much support you will receive. If you would like to see all of the factors that go into determining support, you can visit the NY State Child Support website. The guidelines involve a complex formula - some of the factors involved are the parents’ incomes, your child’s needs and the custody arrangements (in terms of how often the child lives with each parent). To get a rough idea of how much support you may receive, you can visit AllLaw.com’s NY child support calculator. Note: WomensLaw is not affiliated with this website. 

When you file for child support in family court, you probably won’t begin receiving the support immediately. However, when a final support order is issued, you will receive a retroactive payment dating back to the date that you filed your petition so the sooner you file, the more you will receive in the end. To read more about child support in NY state, you can read a manual prepared by an organization called Her Justice.

¹ See, generally, NY Fam Ct Act § 439