A North Dakota child support order is a court order requiring a parent to pay a specific amount of child support to provide financial support for their children. Whether established through divorce, paternity proceedings, or a separate child support case, understanding how North Dakota calculates the amount of child support, enforces payment obligations, and modifies existing orders helps parents navigate their responsibilities and protect their children's interests.
How North Dakota Child Support Orders Work
Child support orders in North Dakota ensure both parents contribute financially to raising their children. A child support order may be established as its own case or ordered as part of family law proceedings, including divorce, legal separation, paternity cases, or when establishing parenting rights and responsibilities.
North Dakota child support follows state guidelines that create a presumption about the appropriate amount of child support based on the noncustodial parent's income, number of children, and other relevant factors. These guidelines, established by the North Dakota Department of Human Services, provide consistency and predictability in child support calculations across the state.
Establishing a Child Support Order
Parents can obtain a child support order through several processes depending on their circumstances.
Through Divorce or Legal Separation
When parents divorce or legally separate, child support is handled as part of the divorce process. You can request child support when you file your divorce papers. The court will calculate child support using North Dakota's guidelines and include support provisions in the final divorce decree.
Through Paternity Proceedings
If parents aren't married, establishing paternity is typically the first step before obtaining a child support order. Once paternity is established, either parent can request a child support order through the court system.
Through North Dakota Child Support Services
Parents can apply for child support assistance through North Dakota Child Support (NDCS) by visiting the NDCS website. You can apply online or print an application and mail it to the NDCS office. If you're receiving public assistance and have physical custody of your child, you'll be required to assign your right to collect child support to the state, cooperate with county social services, and cooperate with the child support enforcement unit.
A good cause exception to establishing child support may be granted if cooperation in securing support is reasonably anticipated to result in physical or emotional harm to the child or to the parent or caretaker with whom the child lives.
Calculating the Amount of Child Support
North Dakota uses specific guidelines to determine the amount of child support that obligors must pay. The calculation starts with the noncustodial parent's income and applies various adjustments.
Determining Gross Income
Gross income includes all income from any source, including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, prizes, inheritance, business income, rental income, retirement benefits, Social Security benefits, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, disability payments, and any other compensation for personal services.
Allowable Deductions from Gross Income
The guidelines permit specific deductions from gross income to arrive at net income. Allowed deductions include federal and state income taxes at standard rates, a portion of premium payments for health insurance coverage for the child, payments made for a child's actual medical expenses when similar expenses will continue, union dues and occupational license fees required as a condition of employment, and required payroll deductions for retirement.
A noncustodial parent may also deduct from net income the cost of supporting another child who's living with that parent. This recognizes that parents often have financial obligations to multiple children.
Using the Child Support Schedule
After calculating net income, the guidelines include a table showing the basic child support amount for different income levels and the number of children being supported. This guideline amount serves as the presumptive correct amount of child support.
North Dakota provides a downloadable calculator with instructions, worksheets, and support schedules to help estimate the guideline amount of support in your case. The state government's child support website offers these resources for parents calculating potential support obligations.
Adjustments to the Base Amount
The basic child support amount may be adjusted to account for certain common expenditures. Judges may require parents to split costs related to child care and school activity fees. These expenses are added to the base child support amount. Applicable child care expenses ordinarily relate to a parent's employment, job search, education, or training.
Additionally, a noncustodial parent could be eligible for a reduction in child support if that parent has extended parenting time with the child. Extended parenting time means the child spends more than 100 overnights with the noncustodial parent, which reduces the custodial parent's daily expenses.
When Child Support May Differ From Guidelines
North Dakota judges presume the standard calculation of support is the correct amount. However, parents may overcome that presumption if they prove a different amount would be in the child's best interests and one of the acceptable reasons for deviation exists.
Reasons for Higher Support
Courts can order higher child support amounts when the noncustodial parent can pay more support because that parent has net income over $25,000 per month or is receiving additional income from assets. A child may also need greater support because of age (12 or above), disability, or chronic illness. Higher educational expenses due to attendance at private school with the noncustodial parent's written consent also justify increased support.
Reasons for Lower Support
Judges may order lower support when there's less need because the custodial parent's net income is at least three times higher than the noncustodial parent's income. The noncustodial parent may have less ability to pay child support because of certain health care expenses, additional expenses related to parenting time such as travel costs when parents live far apart, the need to maintain two households because of temporary military duty assignment, or other continued additional expenses beyond the parent's control.
The custodial parent seeking support for more than six children may also justify adjustments to the guideline amount.
Income Imputation
Unfortunately, some parents try to avoid their duty to pay child support by quitting jobs or taking low-paying employment. Judges have authority to impute (assign) income to parents who are voluntarily underemployed or unemployed without legitimate reason.
When deciding whether to impute income, judges look at the parent's work history, level of education, skills, and overall employability in the local business environment. The guidelines list several situations when judges may not impute income, such as when the noncustodial parent has permanent disability preventing certain earnings levels, is receiving disability payments, or needs to stay home caring for another child with unusual emotional or physical needs.
Can Parents Agree on Support Amounts?
Parents always have the option of agreeing on a child support amount, and most parents do. Courts encourage settlements on child support and other divorce aspects. However, before the judge approves your agreement, you must present evidence of the noncustodial parent's income and financial circumstances showing the agreed amount meets guideline requirements.
You won't be able to agree to an amount lower than the standard calculation unless you can show you qualify for a deviation for one of the acceptable reasons. This protects children's interests by ensuring support agreements provide adequate financial support.
Medical Support and Health Insurance
A child support order will likely include separate provisions for health insurance coverage and other medical support. Courts typically order the parent with access to reasonable health insurance through employment to provide coverage for the children. Premium costs for the children's coverage are factored into the overall support calculation.
Parents may also be required to share uncovered medical expenses for the children. The court order should specify how these expenses are divided between parents.
Duration of Child Support Orders
Child support orders in North Dakota last until specific termination events occur. Generally, a child support order lasts until the minor turns 18. However, if your child is enrolled in and attending high school and still living with the custodial parent when they turn 18, support continues until whichever event happens first: the child graduates from high school (in which case the order lasts until the end of the month they graduate), or the child turns 19.
To continue child support until your child's graduation, you may need to file a declaration with the district child support agency. This declaration states that your child will still be in high school at their 18th birthday, names their school, and provides the expected graduation date. There is no fee to file this declaration.
Parents may agree to extend child support past these legal limits, for example, to continue supporting a child attending college. To avoid misunderstandings, put that agreement in writing and submit it to the court so a judge can approve it and make it part of an official court order.
Enforcing Child Support Orders
All child support payments in North Dakota must be made through the North Dakota State Disbursement Unit (SDU). When this office receives payment, it sends it to the parent receiving child support. This centralized system ensures accurate tracking of payments and helps prevent disputes about payment history.
Income Withholding
When the noncustodial parent is employed, the law requires that child support payments be made through income withholding unless the parent shows an acceptable reason not to do so. The employer deducts the support amount from the parent's salary and forwards it to the SDU. This automatic withholding ensures consistent, timely payments.
Enforcement Services
If you're having trouble collecting child support, you can request enforcement services from NDCS. The type of enforcement help you receive depends on whether you're signed up for full or limited services. If you're receiving limited service, the only enforcement NDCS pursues is income withholding if not already in place.
If you have full services, enforcement can include income withholding, intercepting lottery and certain gaming winnings, reporting to credit bureaus, suspending driver's and professional licenses, denying passports, and freezing and taking certain assets.
Court Enforcement
You also have the option of going back to court to request enforcement help. Typically, you file a motion asking the judge to find the obligor parent in contempt of court, which could lead to fines or even jail time.
Penalties for Non-Payment
If the other parent owes past-due child support, the judge can require payment of past-due support in amounts agreed upon in a court-approved plan, participation in appropriate work activities unless incapacitated, and participation in treatment for mental illness or drug or alcohol dependency if appropriate.
If the parent owes more than three months of past-due support and isn't following the court-established repayment plan, the judge can order suspension or withholding of the parent's driver's license and occupational, professional, or recreational certificates, permits, or licenses. However, the parent has 30 days to pay the full amount owed to avoid suspension taking effect.
Modifying Child Support Orders
Life circumstances change, and North Dakota law provides several ways to modify child support orders to reflect changed situations.
Automatic Three-Year Reviews
If your child support order is being enforced by the state child support agency, the order will be reviewed by the agency every three years. If the agency determines the order provides payments inconsistent with current guideline amounts, the agency has the option to seek amendment. However, if child support payments are less than 85% of the guideline amount or more than 115% of the guideline amount, the agency is required to seek amendment.
Parent-Initiated Modifications
Either parent can file to amend the order to match current child support guidelines at any time. The process and requirements differ depending on how long the current order has been in effect.
Modification After One Year or More: If a child support order has been in effect for at least a year before a parent files a modification motion, the judge will change the support amount in line with current support guidelines unless the other parent shows an acceptable reason for deviation.
Requests to Modify Recent Orders: If the existing support order has been in place for less than a year, a parent seeking modification must prove there's been a material (substantial) change of circumstances since the order was issued. This higher standard prevents constant modification requests based on minor changes.
Impact of Remarriage on Child Support
In and of itself, a parent's remarriage won't affect the amount of child support. For example, a new spouse's income won't ordinarily be considered in child support calculations. However, there's an exception, a judge could take the new spouse's income and financial circumstances into account when the custodial parent has significant control over them, such as when the new spouse works for a business the custodial parent runs.
Children in the custodial parent's new family might also play a role in support amounts that the parent owes for children from previous relationships. The guidelines allow noncustodial parents to deduct from their income the cost of supporting other children living with them. That deduction usually comes into play when parents seek modification because they're now supporting new children with new spouses.
Although stepparents don't usually have legal responsibility to support stepchildren, North Dakota law makes an exception when stepchildren are "received into the stepparent's family." In that situation, stepparents are obligated, to the extent of their ability, to support their stepkids as long as the children remain part of the family. However, natural parents remain responsible for their own support obligations.
A North Dakota child support order provides essential financial support, ensuring children's needs are met, regardless of their parents' relationship status. Understanding how courts calculate the amount of child support using state guidelines, how to establish orders through divorce or child support enforcement agencies, and how to modify orders when circumstances change helps parents meet their obligations and protect their children's interests. Whether you pay child support as the noncustodial parent or receive support as the custodial parent, knowing your rights regarding health insurance coverage, income withholding, enforcement mechanisms, and modification procedures ensures the court order functions effectively to support your children's wellbeing throughout their childhood.