Child support is an ongoing financial payment from one parent to another, specifically for raising children. The support payments cover necessities like food, housing, clothing, medical care, and education expenses. Vermont law recognizes that both parents share responsibility for financially supporting their children, regardless of their relationship status or living arrangements.
The amount of child support follows Vermont's child support guidelines, a mathematical formula that calculates appropriate payment amounts based on both parents' incomes, the number of children, and how much time children spend with each parent. This standardized approach creates consistency and fairness across Vermont child support cases.
Who Pays Child Support?
Typically, the noncustodial parent, the parent with whom the children spend less time, pays child support to the custodial parent. The custodial parent is presumed to spend their share of support directly on the children through daily expenses, while the noncustodial parent contributes through regular payments.
However, Vermont's system adjusts based on actual parenting arrangements. When parents share physical custody more equally, with each parent having the children for significant portions of time, the calculation becomes more complex. The parent with the higher income may still pay support even when time is split fairly evenly, ensuring children maintain similar living standards in both households.
How Vermont Calculates Child Support
The child support order amount starts with determining each parent's available income. Available income means gross income from all sources minus specific allowed deductions, including taxes, health insurance premiums for the children, and existing child support obligations for other children.
The Vermont Office of Child Support provides an online calculator that parents can use to estimate their child support obligations. This calculator incorporates the state's official guidelines and considers multiple factors, including each parent's gross income, allowed deductions like FICA taxes and health insurance, the number of children requiring support, and the percentage of time children spend with each parent.
For most families, courts order the amount calculated by the guidelines. The calculation reflects what Vermont parents typically spend raising children, based on reliable economic data about child-rearing costs.
The Role of Parenting Time
The amount of time children spend with each parent directly affects the child support calculation. Vermont uses different formulas depending on the custody arrangement.
When one parent has primary custody, and the other has standard visitation (less than 25% of overnights), the noncustodial parent pays their proportional share based on income. When parents approach more equal time-sharing, with the noncustodial parent having children 25% to 30% of the year, Vermont applies a shared costs adjustment that increases the total obligation by 50% to account for maintaining two separate households for the children.
When each parent has physical custody at least 30% of the year, the guidelines increase the total support obligation by 50% and divide responsibility based on both income percentages and time percentages. These adjustments ensure the calculation reflects real costs families face when children regularly move between two homes.
Additional Components Beyond Base Support
Vermont child support orders typically address expenses beyond the basic guideline amount.
Health Insurance and Medical Costs
Parents must provide health insurance coverage for their children when available at a reasonable cost, defined as costing 5% or less of the parent's gross income. Courts add extraordinary medical expenses (generally uninsured costs exceeding $200 annually) to the total support obligation and divide them proportionally between parents based on their incomes.
Child Care Expenses
Actual child care costs related to employment or job training add to the total support obligation. Vermont calculates these on an annual basis to account for varying needs throughout the year, with child care subsidies or tax credits reducing the amount included.
Establishing a Child Support Order
Parents establish child support orders through Vermont's family court system. During divorce proceedings, child support becomes part of the overall case. Unmarried parents establish support through parentage actions that determine legal parentage and set support obligations.
The Vermont Office of Child Support assists parents in establishing orders, particularly when families receive certain public benefits or request agency services. The office helps locate noncustodial parents, establish paternity when necessary, obtain court orders, and collect support payments.
When parents agree on child support terms, they submit their agreement to the court for approval. The court reviews agreements to ensure they meet children's needs and comply with Vermont law. Agreed amounts significantly different from guideline calculations require explanation showing the deviation serves the children's best interests.
How Support Payments Work
Vermont centralizes child support payments through the Office of Child Support Registry. This central processing creates clear payment records, reducing disputes about payment history.
Most parents paying support do so through automatic income withholding. The paying parent's employer deducts support from paychecks and sends it directly to the Registry, which then disburses payments to the receiving parent. This automatic system ensures consistent, timely support payments.
Parents can also make payments through the online EzPay4Kids system using credit cards or electronic checks (with small processing fees), by mailing checks or money orders to the Registry, or through other authorized payment methods. The Registry processes payments and typically distributes them to receiving parents within two business days.
When Circumstances Change
Life circumstances change, and Vermont allows parents to request child support modifications when changes are substantial. Filing a motion with the family court starts the modification process.
Changes must be real, substantial, and unanticipated since the last order. Common qualifying changes include significant income increases or decreases for either parent, changes in parenting time arrangements, changes in health insurance costs or child care expenses, or the birth of additional children to either parent.
If a child support order hasn't been modified for at least three years, Vermont law allows modification without proving changed circumstances; the court simply recalculates based on current income and circumstances. A difference of 10% or more between the current order and the guideline amount constitutes grounds for modification.
The Vermont Office of Child Support can independently file modification motions in specific situations, including when a parent faces incarceration exceeding 90 days, when families reunite, when children no longer live with the receiving parent, or when a parent receives means-tested benefits like food stamps or Medicaid.
Enforcing Child Support Orders
When parents fail to pay court-ordered child support, Vermont provides enforcement mechanisms to collect past-due amounts. The Vermont Office of Child Support uses various enforcement tools, including intercepting state and federal tax refunds, placing liens on property, including vehicles and real estate, suspending driver's licenses, professional licenses, and recreational licenses, reporting arrears to credit bureaus affecting credit scores, and initiating contempt of court proceedings.
The custodial parent can also file a motion directly with the family court to enforce the support order. Courts take non-payment seriously. Willful failure to pay can result in fines, property seizure, or incarceration in extreme cases.
Vermont adds surcharges to unpaid child support at 0.5% monthly (6% annually), treated as principal rather than interest. These surcharges ensure past-due support maintains value despite payment delays.
Special Circumstances
Several special situations affect Vermont child support calculations and obligations.
Voluntary Unemployment or Underemployment
Courts may impute income to parents who voluntarily choose not to work or accept jobs below their earning capacity. This prevents parents from avoiding support obligations by refusing employment or working less than they're capable of earning. Exceptions apply for parents who are physically or mentally incapacitated, attending legitimate job training programs, or when unemployment serves the children's best interests.
Additional Dependents
When parents have additional children with other partners, Vermont adjusts calculations to account for those support obligations. The adjustment prevents unfairly burdening parents supporting multiple families while ensuring each child receives appropriate support.
Social Security Benefits
When children receive Social Security benefits based on a parent's disability or retirement, these amounts count toward child support. The benefits typically go to the custodial parent and reduce the noncustodial parent's support obligation dollar-for-dollar.
Duration of Child Support
Vermont child support continues until children reach age 18 or complete high school, whichever occurs later. Support extends past the 18th birthday for children still in secondary school but terminates at graduation or age 19, whichever comes first.
Parents can agree to provide support beyond these ages, such as contributing to college expenses, but courts cannot order extended support without parental agreement. For children with disabilities preventing self-sufficiency, support may continue beyond normal termination ages.
Your Rights and Responsibilities
Both parents have rights and responsibilities under the Vermont child support law. The paying parent has the right to know how support calculations were made, request modifications when circumstances change substantially, and receive credit for all payments made. Their responsibilities include paying the full amount ordered on time every time, maintaining health insurance when required, notifying the Office of Child Support Registry of address or employment changes within seven business days, and continuing payments until the court officially modifies or terminates the order.
The receiving parent has the right to receive payments as ordered, request enforcement when payments are missed, request modifications when appropriate, and access payment history through the online system. Their responsibilities include using support payments for children's benefit, reporting income and circumstance changes that might affect support calculations, and cooperating with the Office of Child Support when they provide services.
Getting Help with Child Support
The Vermont Office of Child Support provides services to help parents with child support matters. Contact them at 1-800-786-3214 for assistance with calculating estimated support amounts using the online calculator, establishing new child support orders, modifying existing orders, enforcing orders when payments are missed, or accessing case information online.
For legal questions about child support or representation in court proceedings, consult with a family law attorney. Attorneys can explain your specific rights and obligations, represent you in hearings, negotiate agreements with the other parent, and help navigate complex situations involving multiple states or unusual circumstances.
Moving Forward with Vermont Child Support
Use available resources like the online calculator to estimate obligations, work cooperatively with the other parent when possible, maintain accurate records of all payments made or received, communicate promptly with the Office of Child Support about changes, and seek modifications through proper legal channels when circumstances change significantly.
Vermont child support serves one fundamental purpose: ensuring children receive the financial support they need from both parents to thrive. By understanding the basics of how the system works, parents can navigate it successfully and focus on what matters most, their children's well-being.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Who is required to pay child support in Vermont?
Typically, the noncustodial parent, the parent who spends less time with the children, pays child support to the custodial parent. However, Vermont adjusts obligations based on parenting time and income levels, so even parents with nearly equal custody may have support responsibilities.
2. How is child support calculated in Vermont?
Vermont calculates support using a standardized formula that considers each parent's gross income, allowable deductions (like taxes and health insurance for children), the number of children, and the percentage of time children spend with each parent. Additional costs such as child care and extraordinary medical expenses are added proportionally.
3. Can child support orders be modified?
Yes. Parents can request modifications when circumstances change substantially, such as changes in income, parenting time, child care costs, or health insurance. If a support order hasn’t been modified in at least three years, recalculation based on current circumstances is also allowed.
4. What happens if child support is not paid?
The Vermont Office of Child Support can enforce unpaid support through tools like wage garnishment, intercepting tax refunds, liens on property, license suspensions, reporting arrears to credit bureaus, and court contempt proceedings. Non-payment can lead to fines, property seizure, or even incarceration in extreme cases.
5. Does child support end when a child turns 18?
Support generally continues until the child reaches 18 or graduates high school, whichever is later. It can extend until age 19 if the child is still in secondary school. For children with disabilities preventing self-sufficiency, support may continue beyond normal termination ages.