Experience & Caring Legal Counsel
The Foust Firm, PC understands that when you need a family lawyer, it’s important to work with someone you can trust. If you are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, The Foust Firm, PC is available to be that lawyer for you. Our experience in Family Law covers a broad spectrum of legal issues ranging from pre-nuptial agreements to resolving complex property settlements and child custody disputes stemming from divorce. We can assist you with all these issues and help you achieve your goals for your family.
Child Support & Tax Returns
How Child Support Is Determined
Our firm often receives questions regarding these two topics relating to family law. Child support is most commonly calculated by a court using the Obligor’s tax return. As a family lawyer with ample experience in divorce proceedings and child support modifications, we can help represent your interests and fight for the modification you may be entitled to.
The court calculates net resources for the purpose of determining child support. TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 154.062 (Vernon 2009). The most common place for identifying the Obligor’s (person paying child support) employment income is from a tax return – Form 1040, Line 7, which reports the Obligor’s wages, salaries, tips, etc. The amount reported in Line 7 is the gross amount of income, often reported directly from the Obligor’s W-2.New Paragraph
The Obligee
The person receiving child support payments should not rely solely on Line 7 as the conclusive proof of gross resources. Line 7 will not include “income” such as deferred compensation – i.e. 401k contributions. An Obligor’s actual income for purposes of determining net resources is often buried in the schedules to the tax return. It might take some digging and investigation to fully understand (or uncover) where income for purposes of determining net resources is found in a complicated tax return. At the minimum, in a divorce or modification proceeding, the Obligor’s complete tax returns should be reviewed.