The federal Family Support Act of 1988 requires every state to promulgate numerical child support guidelines. The guidelines implement a federal requirement demanding not only that guidelines be established, but that such guidelines form the presumed standard when fixing the amount of child support. The formula attempts to balance the child's needs and the parents' ability to provide for those needs when the family is split and living in two households.
Courts have broad discretion to deviate from the guidelines when appropriate.
Courts may also consider any other factor they deem relevant. For that reason, it is impossible to predict the exact amount of support a court may order. In the vast majority of cases, however, the guidelines are not deviated from. In the vast majority of cases, child support is awarded based on reported wages of the payor, as demonstrated by income tax returns. In addition, income can also include an amount imputed as income based upon the parent's former resources or income, if the court determines that a parent has reduced resources or income in order to reduce or avoid the parent's obligation for child support.