New child support calculations in Indiana

Indianapolis, Indiana – On January 1, the Indiana Supreme Court modified the formula for determining child support. The most important modification since 1989, it may significantly alter the spending plan for your household.

Indiana is required by federal statutes to consider the recommendations for a child support standard. New data has been incorporated into the redesigned computations.

Weekly payment schedules will be adjusted by these modifications. Lower incomes might pay less in child support, whereas wealthy earners might pay 12–17% more.

The latest modifications, according to Leslie Craig Henderzahs of Church Church Hittle + Antrim Law, are necessary.

“The calculations have been revamped and based on data that is decades newer and more accurate. Under the old guidelines they were actually based on the 1970s and looked at the amount of money that families spent on primarily food expenditures and how those expenditures changed whether they had one child to two children to eight children,” Craig Henderzahs explained.

She added, “The parent that’s paying support does, in fact, receive a a diminishment in their weekly obligation for the number of overnights that they have with their children.”

The new adjustments won’t happen on their own. If parents want to go from the estimated amount, they must justify the court.

Parents can utilize the new calculator tool on IN.gov to determine how this change might affect them.