Opinion ID: 2334045
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Melson Formula/National Review

Text: In 1975, a child support enforcement program was established as Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act (known as the IV-D Program). [22] Child Support Enforcement Act, Pub.L. No. 93-647, 88 Stat. 2361 (1975) (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 651-662 (1985 & Supp.1988)). See also Paikin, Child Support, supra note 11 § 33.03[1], at 33-10. This Act created a federal/state partnership designed primarily to allow both the state and federal governments to recover in the costs of the program known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-610 (1985). The child support enforcement program was amended in 1984. Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984, Pub.L. No. 98-378, 98 Stat. 1305 (1984). A critical provision in the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984 was the requirement that states establish guidelines for child support. [23] 42 U.S.C. § 667 (1988). The legislation provided that: (a) Each State, as a condition for having its State plan approved under this part [42 U.S.C. §§ 651-662], must establish guidelines for child support award amounts within the State. The guidelines may be established by law or by judicial or administrative action. (b) The guidelines established pursuant to subsection (a) shall be made available to all judges and other officials who have the power to determine child support awards within such State, but need not be binding upon such judges or other officials. (c) The Secretary shall furnish technical assistance to the States for establishing the guidelines and each State shall furnish the Secretary with copies of its guidelines. The Amendment made by subsection (a) shall become effective on October 1, 1987. 42 U.S.C. § 667 (Supp.1988). The federal regulations which implemented this Congressional mandate required that [t]he guidelines must be based on specific descriptive and numeric criteria and result in computation of the support obligation. 45 C.F.R. 302.56 (1987). In an effort to assist states in meeting the federal statutory requirement to establish support guidelines by October 1, 1987, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) initiated the Child Support Guidelines Project (Project). [24] The Principal Investigator of that project was Robert G. Williams, Ph.D. An Interim Report was issued by the Project in June 1985. [25] The Project's Final Report was published in March of 1987 and is entitled the Development of Guidelines for Child Support Orders: Final Report (Final Report). [26] After a national review, the Final Report concluded that there are three basic conceptual models for the development of child support formulas: Cost sharing. In this approach, the needs of the child are specified first, based on a minimum standard of living, or based on a review of actual household expenses. The dollar amount so determined is apportioned between the parents, usually based on their respective incomes. Income sharing. A proportion of parental income is allocated to the child. The specific proportion usually varies with the number of children and sometimes varies with the level or parental income. This type of guideline can be based on either gross or net parental income. Income equalization. Under this model, the economic burden of the household dissolution, or non-formation, is distributed equivalently between the parents. To equalize standards of living between the separate households, income of each parent is allocated between the households based on the number of persons in each. [27] The Final Report found that these three basic conceptual models had been implemented through the adoption of support guidelines in various states. After its examinations of the support guidelines that had been established throughout the United States, the Final Report specifically reviewed in detail five approaches to guidelines, that were receiving substantial attention throughout the country. They were the Income Shares Model, [28] the Cassetty model, [29] the Washington [State] Uniform Child Support Guidelines, [30] the Wisconsin Percentage of Income Standard, [31] and the Delaware Melson Formula. Williams, Guidelines, supra note 12 at, II-65 to -66. The Child Support Guidelines Project meticulously scrutinized the Melson Formula. Therefore, at the same time that the Family Court was reviewing the Melson Formula, at the direction of the Delaware General Assembly, the Melson Formula was also the subject of a comparative national analysis at the direction of OCSE. [32] The recommendations to the states from the Advisory Panel of the Child Support Guidelines project are set forth in its 1987 Final Report. Three of those recommendations are noteworthy in this case: Recommendation # 9: The Advisory Panel recommends that guidelines be implemented by means of court rule of statewide applicability, where feasible. [33] Recommendation # 4: The Advisory Panel recommends that each state adopt a child support guideline for use as a rebuttable presumption by the courts and the child support enforcement agencies. Recommendation # 5: The Advisory Panel recommends that states use either the Income model or the Delaware Melson formula as the basis for their child support guidelines. [34] Id. at I-13 to -22 (emphasis added). The Final Report characterized the Delaware Melson Formula as an example of a hybrid cost sharing/income sharing approach. Id. at II-65. The Final Report found that the Melson Formula had evolved from its three basic principles into a considerable degree of sophistication. Id. at II-81. [35] The Final Report concluded that the Melson Formula is  the most comprehensive of any approach in the number of factors directly addressed. Id. II-vii (emphasis added). [36]