Guide to the Montana Online Child Support Calculator
Guide to the Montana Online
Child Support Calculator
Make Sure the Calculator is Right for You
The calculator is not for everyone. You need to read all of the information below. If you do not read the following information, you may get an incorrect calculation or a calculation that you cannot use for your case.
The calculator is for people who need to calculate a child support amount they owe or are owed.
The calculator is for people who need the child support amount because they are filing one of the following types of court documents:
· Petition for Dissolution with Children in a Montana District Court, or
· Petition for Parenting Plan in a Montana District Court, or
· Modification of Child Support Order in a previous Dissolution with Children or Parenting Plan case in a Montana District Court
More about the calculator:
· The calculator is for people who know both their own and the other parent’s incomes and financial situations.
· The calculator will NOT calculate your taxes or calculate a medical support order.
· The calculator does NOT currently calculate temporary income. If you have temporary income, please do not use the calculator as you may get an incorrect result.
The State of Montana Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) can calculate child support in many situations. See http://dphhs.mt.gov/CSED.
Some private attorneys can also calculate child support.
The calculator may not be right for you if you have a complicated case or situation. It cannot take the place of a lawyer’s legal advice or information from CSED. If you don’t know whether you should use the calculator, please talk to a lawyer or CSED before using it.
The Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA), the creators of the calculator, and CSED don’t claim or guarantee that using the calculator will help you get what you want. MLSA and/or CSED are not responsible for what happens if you use the calculator.
Confidentiality
Please be careful with your personal information when using a computer. Make sure you log out and close all programs when you’re done and close all documents. Restart or shut down the computer when you are finished. Remember that even clearing a computer’s history does not totally erase your computer trail; someone might still be able to track the websites you visited and/or read the websites and documents you created.
If someone is trying to keep track of what you do, it could be dangerous for you to use the calculator. For information on how to use computers safely, please contact the US National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 and TTY 1-800-787-3224.
Gather Information
It will be much easier for you to use the calculator if you gather information before you begin. Some of the information you will need is listed below. You will also need some of this information for the other parent:
· Paystubs
· Self-Employment income
· Tax returns
· Child daycare costs
· Medical expenses for you and your child
· Children’s unreimbursed medical expenses
· Dependent benefits
· Health insurance premiums
· Long-distance parenting transportation costs
· Employment names and dates
· Unemployment income, workers’ compensation, Social Security benefits, retirement, interest/dividend income, reimbursements, grants, noncash benefits from employers
· Tax deductions (Federal, state, FICA, Medicare, retirement, work costs)
Understand How to Use the Calculator
· The calculator is hosted by the www.LawHelpInteractive.org website. We strongly encourage you to create an account on the website. You can only save your answers and forms if you create and log into your www.LawHelpInteractive.org account before you start answering questions.
· The calculator will allow you to create Financial Affidavits and/or Child Support Worksheets
· The calculator can be found through www.MontanaLawHelp.org at this link: http://bit.ly/MTChildSupportCalculator
· To use the calculator, you work your way through a set of questions and type in your answers. Once you have finished, the program will compile your answers and calculate child support. You can save your answers if you have created an account. You can also print or email your documents.
Know Where to Turn for More Information
Information:
· Definitions, explanations, and other Help for the calculator can be found in the pages at the end of this Guide.
· Hardcopy Financial Affidavit and Child Support Worksheet forms can be found at the Montana Child Support Enforcement Division website at: http://dphhs.mt.gov/CSED
Organizations:
· The State of Montana Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) can calculate child support in many situations. See http://dphhs.mt.gov/CSED.
· Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) helps low-income people with civil legal problems. Apply online or call the HelpLine at 1-800-666-6899 Monday-Thursday 7:30am-6:00pm and Fridays 8:00am-5:00pm.
· The State of Montana Law Library can help with legal research and information. See http://courts.mt.gov/library or call (800) 710-9827.
· The Court Help Program can provide general information. See: http://courts.mt.gov/selfhelp.
Help for Understanding the Questions
The calculator has many questions that include legal and technical words and terms. The information below defines and explains many of the words and terms so that you better understand how to answer the questions.
“HELP” For Montana Legal Services Web Calculator
The following pages are intended as a guide to the child support worksheet interview screens although they do not guarantee an accurate calculation. The responsibility to correctly apply the child support guidelines rests with the user and it may take more than one worksheet to get it right. Due to multiple points of view or expectations for a change in circumstances, it is not uncommon to prepare more than one child support worksheet for a case. For example, when the parents alternate years claiming the children’s tax exemptions, it has become customary in Montana to prepare one child support worksheet with income taxes based on mother claiming the exemptions and a second worksheet with income taxes based on father claiming them. The child support is set at the average of the two support amounts rather than change the support amount due each year.
In addition, the guidelines include a rule, at ARM 37.62.140 Anticipated Changes, which provides for production of additional worksheets if the parties’ or children’s circumstances are expected to change within 18 months of the calculation. This rule is intended to address changes such as the expected birth of a child to one or the other parent, emancipation of one or more children, a change in child care expense or the beginning or end of such expense, a parent’s completion of an educational degree program or temporary job, and so on.
You will need the following documents or information for each parent to complete the interview for the child support worksheets: [All references to specific forms are to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms which may be found at www.irs.gov. Enter the form number (Form 1040, for example) or publication number (Publication 596) in the search box on the IRS Home page for best results.]
ü A completed child support guidelines financial affidavit or the information contained in it;
ü Federal tax returns (Form 1040, 1040A, or 1040EZ) and state tax returns, including W-2 and 1099 forms for the past three (3) years;
ü Copies of partnership (Form 1065) and/or corporation (Form 1120 or 1120S) tax returns for the past three years, if a party is self-employed or receives income/losses from an interest in a partnership or corporation;
ü If depreciation expense is deducted on a tax return (Form 4562), a copy of the supporting depreciation schedule or summary for each year’s return. The depreciation schedule/summary is not an IRS tax form and is a document usually kept by the tax preparer and updated each year;
ü Pay stubs or payroll advice for the past three months;
ü Child care expense for “children of the calculation” and “other children” (see Definitions, below) in the parent’s household; the expense must be necessary for the parent’s employment;
ü Health insurance premiums for each parent, each child of the calculation and each parent’s “other children”; only the annual out-of-pocket cost (premium less subsidy) paid by a parent is allowed;
ü Mandatory retirement contributions through the parent’s employer;
ü Alimony ordered by court or administrative order;
ü Child support ordered by court or administrative order for “other children”;
ü Required employment expense, such as union dues, safety equipment, use of personal vehicle, etc. not reimbursed by the employer or other party;
ü Cost of tuition, books, and mandatory fees for post-secondary education (IRS Form 1098-T) and a record of scholarships and grants accepted/received by the student parent;
ü Interest expense of student loan repayment (IRS Form 1098-E) where the child has benefitted from the parent’s education.
DEFINITIONS: “Child of the calculation” means a child who is the subject of the calculation and who is the child of both parents shown on worksheet A, page 1.
“Other child” means a child who is not the subject of the calculation and who is the child of only one of the parents shown on worksheet A, page 1. (See ARM 37.62.103 for this and other definitions of terms used in the child support guidelines, part of the Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) at Title 37, Chapter 62, Subchapter 1).
START THE INTERVEW, see below, is the name of the first interview screen for the child support worksheets. Each screen is named and that name is repeated here in this guide to assist the user with information about the questions on that screen.
START THE INTERVIEW
“Child Support Worksheets” will produce Montana child support guidelines worksheet A in every case and will include worksheet B when the parenting arrangement requires it. Worksheet B applies in the following situations:
1. One or more children reside with each parent more than 110 days per year (in other words, at least one child spends more than 110 days with mother and more than 110 days with father, in the same year);
2. In a family with at least two children, one child resides primarily with mother and another child resides primarily with Father. Neither child spends more than 110 days per year with the other parent.
The child support guidelines also include worksheets C, D, and E but they are used only in a manual calculation, not in a computer calculation, and cannot be printed or viewed from this site. [See the Child Support Enforcement Division (CSED) web site at www.childsupport.mt.gov Then, Publications → Child Support Guidelines Packet → Worksheets, to view/print worksheets C, D, and E.]
“Financial Affidavit” will produce a five-page document designed to gather the information from the parents necessary to complete the child support worksheets. It is not a required form unless CSED or the District Court (DC) requests that you complete it so that CSED/DC can complete a calculation for you. The Affidavit (a sworn statement) may also make it easier to collect the information from the other parent if you are preparing your own calculation.
Establish or Modify
If a child support order has never been issued for the children in the family, click the ESTABLISH button. If a child support order has already been issued but needs to be reviewed for possible changes, click the MODIFY button.
Case or Cause Number
If CSED has assigned a case number to your application for services or if the District Court has assigned a cause number to your petition, enter the number here. If you have both numbers, enter both separated by a “/”.
Who Are You?
The parent who checks the box “I am Mother/Father” is referred to as “you” or “your”, as in “Your Income or Your Employment”. The other parent is referred to as “other parent” or by name, once his/her name is entered.
YOUR INFORMATION
Enter your full first and last names and middle initial. If you are Father, select a suffix (Junior, II, III, etc.) if part of your legal name.
THE OTHER PARENT’S INFORMATION
Enter the other parent’s full first and last names and middle initial. For Father, select a suffix (Junior, II, III, etc.) if part of his legal name.
CHILDREN YOU HAVE WITH THE OTHER PARENT
Minor children are those who have not yet reached the age of majority. In Montana, “child” is defined by state law - §40-5-201 MCA - as follows:
“(2) (a) "Child" means:
(i) a person under 18 years of age who is not otherwise emancipated, self-supporting, married, or a member of the armed forces of the United States;
(ii) a person under 19 years of age and still in high school;
(iii) a person who is mentally or physically incapacitated if the incapacity began prior to the person's 18th birthday; . . .”
YOUR FIRST CHILD
Enter your oldest child’s full first and last names and middle initial. If a male child, select a suffix if part of his legal name. Full date of birth is required. If the child is emancipated, married, or a member of the U.S. armed forces, he or she is not eligible for child support.
YOUR SECOND CHILD
Include the same information as required for Your First Child, above. Complete as many child screens as necessary to enter all of your children with the other parent (second child, third child, etc.)
YOUR OTHER CHILD / OTHER PARENT’S OTHER CHILD
“Other child” means a child whom a parent is legally obligated to support but who is not the subject of the child support calculation. (See link to Definitions at the bottom of the interview screen.) An “other” child is a child of one of the parents in the support calculation but not a child of both parents. Either or both parents may have “other” children. A step-child is not considered an “other” child. NOTE: If the parent has a child who does not live with him/her and the parent is not ordered to pay child support for the child, that child can be included as an “other” child only if the parent can show that child support is actually being paid to the child’s custodian.
EXAMPLE: Deduction for Other Children
Dave is the father of three minor children: Susan, Robert, and Mary; each child has a different mother. Mary, age 12, is the child of the calculation and her child support is being reviewed for modification; she currently resides with her mother, Karen. Susan is the oldest at 15, her mother is Anna and Susan currently resides with her father, Dave. Robert is 10 and he resides with his mother, Sharon. Dave is not ordered to pay child support for Robert and he does not make any voluntary payments to Sharon. Dave is allowed a deduction for the other child allowance for Susan because she resides with him. He cannot deduct an “other” child allowance for Robert because Robert does not reside with Dave, there is no support order for Dave to pay for Robert , and Dave makes no voluntary child support payments. Since Mary is a child of the calculation, she does not qualify as an “other” child. In this example, Dave can claim only one “other” child: Susan. [See ARM 37.62.110(1)(b)(ii)]