Beverly Hills Child Support Attorney

California Family Code Sections 4050-4076 outline the guidelines for child support. According to the code:

• The parent’s primary obligation is to support the child.
• Both parents are mutually responsible for child support.
• The court considers each parent’s income and level of financial responsibility.
• The interest of the child is the court’s top responsibility.
• The custodial parent will likely assume a significant portion of the child support responsibility.
• Failure to provide child support will result in one or more legal penalties.

In establishing child support, the court will generally appoint a custodial parent and a noncustodial parent:

• Custodial parent: A custodial parent is a parent with whom the child spends the majority of their time. As such, they assume a large share of the child's day-to-day responsibilities. The rights of the custodial parent vary depending on how the court divides physical and legal responsibilities between each parent.
• Non-custodial parent: A non-custodial parent does not have physical custody of their child according to the decision of the court. Although the non-custodial parent does not have primary custody of the child, they may still have equal legal custody rights, which include making decisions on behalf of the child.

In California, child support ends once the child turns 18. If the child is still in high school at the age of 18, it ends when the child graduates or turns 19, whichever comes first.