Received this from Bruce Eden:

NJ reduces child support guidelines by 25%

Lawyers claim only “rich” will pay less for child support.  But, in NJ, what is considered “rich”?
Based on these new guidelines, couples earning a NET weekly combined income of $1500 is where the child support award for one child will be the same as it is now.  Combined NET weekly income over this amount will start to reduce the child support amounts for one child.

The break-even point, where the new child support guidelines are the same as the old guidelines, for three (3) children will be at $900 per week combined NET weekly income.

So most middle and upper class divorced families will see a percentage drop in the child support guidelines when they reach the above referenced combined NET weekly incomes.

And, Judge Richard Russell, who is mentioned in the article, as the chair for the NJ Supreme Court’s Family Practice Committee’s subcommittee on child support guidelines, is the same Judge, who in a 1995 New Jersey Law Journal article told judges at a domestic violence training conference for judges, to “ignore the constitutional rights of men” when placing a domestic violence order against them, “throw them out in the street with just the shirt on their back, and tell them ‘See ya’”, “because you don’t want to see your names in the headlines”, if something goes wrong if a woman is injured, maimed or killed.

Bruce Eden, Director
DADS (Dads Against Discrimination)–New Jersey & New York Chapters

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1183623583177770.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

Rich may pay less for child support

Legal debate grows on revised guidelines
Thursday, July 05, 2007
BY MARGARET McHUGH
Star-Ledger Staff

Higher-income families in New Jersey could see their child support drop by as much as 25 percent under the state’s latest guidelines.

The change, which took effect in September, was based on a national survey that found families making $100,000 or more were spending a smaller portion of their income on child rearing (excluding daycare) than they had in the 1980s.

Child support in New Jersey is supposed to approximate the amount parents in an intact family spend on their children. But attorneys point out inflation is up 25 percent since 1997, the last time the guidelines were updated. For wealthier parents to pay less, they say, makes no sense.

“No family I’ve dealt with thinks the cost of living has gone down,” said attorney John Paone Jr. of Woodbridge, who is leading the fight against the change.

To calculate child support, a judge plugs each parent’s income into a computer program and it spits out a child support amount, which, after other expenses are added in, is split between the parents based on each person’s proportion of income.

Under the new guidelines, reductions in the payments begin for those parents who have one child and earn a combined net income of $78,000 a year; people with more children could see reductions at lower incomes.

Attorneys say those guidelines don’t work for high-earning families, which have more discretionary income. Children may have taken tennis lessons and gotten big clothing allowances before the divorce.

“The problem is, everybody’s standard of living is different,” Morristown attorney William Laufer said. “These guidelines totally ignore that.”

Family law practitioners say the change defies logic and predict it will hurt children once parents realize they can pay less support.

“It makes no sense. And kids are going to pay for it,” attorney Jeralyn Lawrence said.

The new guidelines also cover even higher incomes, with the top income going from $2,900 a week to $4,420 a week. Judges must make individual decisions when parents’ income exceeds the guidelines, but the higher ceiling means fewer families fall outside the system.

Lizanne J. Ceconi, who heads the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Family Law Section, implored the State Supreme Court in May to roll back the top income to previous levels. In addition, Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), an attorney, introduced a bill last month that would have the Legislature set the upper limit at $2,900.

While judges don’t have to follow the guidelines, they have only deviated from them in 4 percent of the cases, Ceconi said.

For parents to ask for more than the guidelines provide, they would have to spend money on legal fees, without any guarantee of success. “A parent fighting for an extra $50 or $100 a week isn’t willing to spend thousands of dollars on a special hearing to prove their case,” Paone said.

But high-income parents who pay child support would be inclined to go to court for a reduction, because of the potential savings over years, Ceconi said.

Ceconi told the high court about a client of an attorney in her firm who nearly got burned by the new guidelines.

When her $400-a-week alimony stopped last summer, the Berkeley Heights mother sought a $50-a-week increase in support for her three children. Because the hearing took place after the guidelines took effect, her ex-husband’s obligation could have been reduced by $41 a week, from $423 to $383, Ceconi said. However, since a settlement was in the works beforehand, the judge ordered the ex-husband to pay $450 a week, she said.

Richard Russell, who serves on the Supreme Court’s Family Practice Committee, agreed the numbers “seem contrary to what you would expect,” but said the guidelines were based on an in-depth national survey on household spending.

The Consumer Expenditures Survey, conducted by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, records expenditures for more than 1,000 items. The former guidelines were based on surveys conducted in the 1980s, while the current table is based on data collected in the late 1990s, according to Denver-based Policy Studies Inc., the company New Jersey hired to create its guidelines.

Policy Studies Inc. (PSI) offered several reasons for the change:

– Higher-income families are putting part of their paychecks in tax-deferred accounts, such as 401(k)s.

– Lower interest rates on mortgages have reduced the portion of income spent on mortgage interest payments, which is considered part of child-rearing costs.

– Families are buying in bulk at grocery warehouses. The biggest drop in child-rearing expenses is in families with three or more children.

While childcare is more expensive now, that cost is not included in the basic child support figure. It is added in afterward.

The Family Practice Committee’s subcommittee on child support guidelines, chaired by Russell, will study the economic principles used by PSI to create the guidelines, beginning in September.

“We want to be sure that they’re fair,” said retired Ocean County Assignment Judge Eugene D. Serpentelli, who chairs the committee. “In the meantime, you have to have guidelines in effect.”

The Family Practice Committee has recommended rolling back the top income covered by the guidelines from $4,420 to $3,600 a week after taxes, a proposal the Supreme Court is considering, said Harry T. Cassidy, assistant director of the state judiciary’s Family Practice Division. At the $3,600-a-week limit, 90 percent of the state’s child support cases are covered, Russell said.

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