Child Support

MODERNIZING MARYLAND'S CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES
A CASE FOR SUPPORT

FACTS

Nearly 500,000 Maryland children live in single-parent families and are eligible to receive financial support from the other parent. Single-parent families have more than twice the poverty rate as all Maryland children. The law mandating how much child support a parent must pay has not been updated since 1988.

ISSUE

Maryland has not updated the law that establishes child support amounts since 1988, leaving many children without the financial support they need to thrive - especially in this economic climate. Chairman Brian Frosh and Delegate Jeffrey Waldstreicher are teaming up with the Maryland Department of Human Resources (DHR) to modernize Maryland's child support payment rates to reflect the costs of raising a child in 2010. Collecting and distributing child support payments is a primary responsibility of DHR.

BACKGROUND

In the 1980s, the federal government required states to adopt and apply uniform guidelines to calculate child support amounts. Maryland's child support guidelines were last updated in 1988. Federal and state law requires Maryland's Child Support Enforcement Administration (CSEA) to review the guidelines every four years to ensure that the amount of child support ordered is adequate to actually raise a child.

HOW WAS THE CURRENT CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATION DETERMINED?

The Maryland Department of Human Resources hired an economist to develop the current child support guidelines. A multitude of economic data from the 1970s and 1980s make up the current Maryland child support guidelines formula. It is quite outdated.

HOW IS DHR PROPOSING TO CHANGE THE CALCULATION?

The proposed calculation reflects the cost associated with raising a child in Maryland and considers 2008 economic data including: price levels; federal, state and local income tax rates and FICA; poverty guidelines; federal and state minimum wage levels; housing costs; average out-of-pocket medical expenses for children in 2000; and family expenditures data from 1997- 2004. The proposed calculation also considers both Maryland and national data as well as the annual Consumer Expenditures Survey, which surveyed 6,000 households throughout the country, including in Maryland.

WHAT IS THE ACTUAL PROPOSAL?

The pending proposal to update the child support guidelines would do three things: 1) provide enough financial stability for children to thrive; 2) bring the child support rates in line with other neighboring states; 3) reduce the disparity for low-income child support payers who currently pay a much higher percentage of child support than higher-income earners.

HOW WILL THE PROPOSED GUIDELINES SCHEDULE HELP MARYLAND CHILDREN?

Maryland children whose parents are divorced, separated, or were never married will share in the financial resources of both parents at a fair and equitable level that reflects the economic realities of today - not 20 years ago.