When parents separate or divorce in Vermont, establishing fair child support becomes essential to ensuring children receive proper financial care. Vermont child support follows specific guidelines designed to meet children's needs while accounting for both parents' financial situations.
How Vermont Child Support Works
Vermont child support represents the financial contribution parents make toward raising their children after separation or divorce. The state maintains a mathematical formula called the child support guideline that determines appropriate payment amounts based on both parents' incomes and the time children spend with each parent.
The Vermont Office of Child Support, part of the Department for Children and Families, administers the child support program and helps families establish, modify, and enforce support orders. Parents can work with this office regardless of whether they were married, and the guidelines apply equally to all families.
Vermont's Child Support Guidelines
Vermont bases child support calculations on what parents living together in Vermont typically spend raising their children. The guidelines reflect actual costs families face, including housing, food, clothing, transportation, and other necessities.
The calculation starts with both parents' available income, essentially gross income minus certain allowed deductions like taxes, health insurance for the children, and existing child support obligations. The guideline then determines a total support obligation based on the combined available income and number of children.
Each parent's share of this obligation relates directly to their percentage of the combined income. The parent with less parenting time typically pays their share to the other parent, while the parent with more time is presumed to spend their share directly on the children.
Calculating Available Income
Available income forms the foundation of Vermont child support calculations. The calculation begins with gross income from all sources, including wages, salaries, bonuses, commissions, self-employment income, rental income, investment income, Social Security benefits, workers' compensation, unemployment benefits, and disability payments.
From gross income, Vermont allows specific deductions. These include spousal support actually paid to a former spouse, existing child support obligations for other children, FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare), state and federal income taxes calculated using standard deductions, and the actual cost of health insurance coverage for the children who are the subject of the support order.
For self-employed parents or those with business income, Vermont subtracts ordinary and necessary business expenses from gross receipts. However, courts scrutinize these deductions carefully and may disallow excessive or inappropriate business expenses that artificially reduce income available for child support.
The Self-Support Reserve
Vermont recognizes that parents need sufficient income to meet their own basic needs. The self-support reserve represents 120% of the federal poverty guideline for a single individual, updated annually.
If paying child support according to the standard guidelines would reduce a parent's income below the self-support reserve, the court adjusts the obligation. The parents' share of the total support obligation becomes the difference between their available income and the self-support reserve, ensuring they retain enough for basic living expenses.
This protection prevents support orders from pushing paying parents into poverty while still ensuring children receive financial support.
Parenting Time and Child Support
The amount of time children spend with each parent significantly affects Vermont child support calculations. Vermont uses different formulas depending on the parenting arrangement.
- When one parent has primary physical custody, and the other parent has standard visitation (typically less than 25% of overnights annually), the noncustodial parent pays their proportional share of the total support obligation to the custodial parent.
- When parents share physical custody more equally, with the noncustodial parent having the children at least 25% of the time but less than 30%, Vermont applies a shared costs table that increases the total support obligation by 50% to reflect the additional costs of maintaining two households. Each parent's obligation is then calculated based on both their income percentage and their parenting time percentage.
- When each parent exercises physical custody 30% or more of the year, the total support obligation increases 50% to account for maintaining two households. Each parent's share is determined by their income proportion and parenting time proportion, with the parent owing more paying the difference to the other parent.
These adjustments ensure that child support reflects the real costs families face when children move between two households while maintaining fairness based on income and time.
Additional Child Support Components
Beyond the base support amount, Vermont child support orders typically address other child-related expenses.
Health Insurance and Medical Expenses
Vermont requires parents to provide health insurance coverage for their children when available at a reasonable cost. Coverage is presumed reasonable if it costs 5% or less of the parent's gross income. If private insurance isn't available at a reasonable cost, courts may order cash contributions toward the cost of public health insurance or uninsured medical expenses.
Extraordinary medical expenses, generally uninsured annual medical costs exceeding $200, are added to the total support obligation and divided between parents based on their income proportions.
Child Care Costs
Actual child care costs incurred due to employment or job training are added to the total support obligation. Vermont calculates these costs on an annualized basis to account for varying needs throughout the year. Child care subsidies or tax credits reduce the amount included in the calculation.
Extraordinary Expenses
Courts may include other extraordinary expenses related to children's special needs or circumstances. These might include special education costs, expenses for children with disabilities, or other unusual expenses that go beyond typical child-rearing costs.
Establishing a Child Support Order
Vermont child support orders are established through family court proceedings. Parents going through a divorce automatically address child support as part of the divorce case. Unmarried parents can establish support through a parentage action.
The Vermont Office of Child Support can help establish orders when a parent receives certain public benefits or requests assistance. The office provides services including locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, obtaining support orders, and collecting payments.
When parents agree on child support terms, they submit a stipulation to the court for approval. The court reviews the agreement to ensure it meets the children's needs and complies with Vermont law. If the agreed amount differs significantly from guideline calculations, parents must explain why the deviation serves the children's best interests.
If parents cannot agree, the court holds a hearing where both parents present financial information. The magistrate or judge then determines the appropriate support amount based on the guidelines and evidence presented.
Child Support Order Contents
Every Vermont child support order must include specific information. The order identifies both parents by name, address, Social Security number, and employer. It lists the children covered by the order and specifies the annual child support amount, payment frequency, and how payments should be made.
Orders must direct payments to the Vermont Office of Child Support Registry unless the court grants an exception. The order includes provisions for immediate income withholding, meaning the paying parent's employer automatically deducts support from paychecks and sends it to the Registry for distribution.
The order also requires both parents to notify the Registry within seven business days of any address changes and informs parents of remedies available for non-payment and their right to request modifications if circumstances change substantially.
Making and Receiving Child Support Payments
Vermont centralizes child support payments through the Office of Child Support Registry. This system creates clear records of all payments made and received, reducing disputes and confusion.
Parents paying support can make payments through automatic wage withholding (the most common method), online through the EzPay4Kids system using credit cards or electronic checks, by mailing checks or money orders to the Registry, or in person at authorized payment locations.
The Registry processes payments and disburses them to the parent receiving support. Most payments are distributed within two business days of receipt. Parents receiving support can check payment status, view disbursement history, and access case information through the online portal.
When Circumstances Change
Vermont allows parents to request child support modifications when circumstances change substantially. Changes must be real, substantial, and unanticipated since the last order.
Common reasons for modification include significant income changes for either parent, changes in parenting time arrangements, changes in child care costs or health insurance expenses, or the birth of additional children to either parent.
If a support order hasn't been modified for at least three years, Vermont law allows modification without proving changed circumstances; the court simply recalculates support based on current incomes and circumstances.
The Vermont Office of Child Support can file modification motions in certain situations, including when a party becomes incarcerated for more than 90 days, when families reunite, when children no longer live with the receiving parent, or when a party receives means-tested public benefits.
Enforcing Child Support Orders
When a parent fails to pay court-ordered child support, Vermont provides multiple enforcement mechanisms. The Vermont Office of Child Support can intercept state and federal tax refunds, place liens on property, including real estate and vehicles, suspend driver's licenses and professional licenses, report arrears to credit bureaus, and initiate contempt of court proceedings.
Parents can also file motions to enforce support directly with the family court. Willful failure to pay child support can result in fines, property seizure, or even incarceration in serious cases.
Vermont adds surcharges to unpaid child support. Arrears accrue a monthly surcharge of 0.5% (6% annually), treated as principal rather than interest. This ensures that past-due support retains value despite payment delays.
Special Considerations
Several special situations affect Vermont child support calculations. When a parent has additional dependents from other relationships, Vermont adjusts calculations to account for those support obligations. The adjustment prevents unfairly burdening parents supporting multiple families while still ensuring each child receives appropriate support.
If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, courts may impute income based on earning potential rather than actual earnings. This prevents parents from avoiding support obligations by refusing to work or accepting lower-paying jobs than their skills warrant. Exceptions apply for parents who are physically or mentally incapacitated, attending job training programs, or when unemployment serves the children's best interests.
Social Security benefits received by children due to a parent's disability or retirement count as part of child support. These amounts are typically deposited with the custodial parent and reduce the paying parent's support obligation dollar-for-dollar.
Child Support Duration
Vermont child support continues until children reach age 18 or complete high school, whichever occurs later. Support can extend past the 18th birthday for children still attending secondary school, but terminates at graduation or age 19, whichever comes first.
For children with disabilities, support may continue beyond normal termination ages if the disability prevents self-sufficiency. Parents can also agree to provide support for college or vocational training, though courts cannot order this without parental agreement.
Getting Help with Vermont Child Support
The Vermont Office of Child Support provides services to help parents establish and maintain child support orders. Contact them at 1-800-786-3214 or visit their website to access the online child support calculator, obtain case information, make payments, request modifications, or report payment problems.
For legal questions about child support, consider consulting with a family law attorney who can explain your rights, help you understand calculations, represent you in court proceedings, or negotiate agreements with the other parent.
Vermont child support serves one fundamental purpose: ensuring children receive appropriate financial support from both parents, regardless of the parents' relationship status.