Editing Child support (section)

===Calculating the amount===
Various approaches to calculating the amount of child-support award payments exist. Many jurisdictions consider multiple sources of information when determining support, taking into account the income of the parents, the number and ages of children living in the home, basic living expenses and school fees.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Establishment of Child Support Orders for Low Income Non-custodial Parents|url=https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-05-99-00390.pdf|website=Department of Health and Human Services|access-date=31 May 2017|date=Jul 2000}}</ref> If the child has special needs, such as treatment for a serious illness or disability, these costs may also be taken into consideration.<ref name="Getting a maintenance order"/><ref name="supreme.state.az.us">[http://www.supreme.state.az.us/dr/Text/CSMod.htm Things you should know about child support in Arizona] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012190911/http://www.supreme.state.az.us/dr/Text/CSMod.htm |date=2007-10-12 }} Supreme Court of Arizona, USA</ref><ref>[http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/family/page.aspx?pageid=3771 Maintenance calculation, Subordinate Court of Singapore] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071101085100/http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/family/page.aspx?pageid=3771 |date=2007-11-01 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/sup/pub/guide/q_a.html The federal child support guidelines step by step] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130035805/http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/sup/pub/guide/q_a.html |date=2007-11-30 }} Canada Department of Justice</ref>

Guidelines for support orders may be based on laws that require obligors to pay a flat percentage of their annual income toward their children's expenses. Often two approaches are combined. In the United Kingdom, for instance, there are four basic rates of child support based on the obligors' income, which are then modified and adjusted based on several factors.<ref name="Child support fact sheet"/><ref name=Arkansas/><ref>[http://www.ird.govt.nz/childsupport/paying-parents/workout-payments/how-much/ Formula Assessment of support payments] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005063756/http://www.ird.govt.nz/childsupport/paying-parents/workout-payments/how-much/ |date=2007-10-05 }} New Zealand Inland Revenue</ref> In the United States, the federal government requires all states to have guideline calculations. Guidelines are either a percentage of income or more usually in the form of tables listing incomes and the amount needed to support one to six children. These computations are often performed by computer programs upon input of certain financial information including, earnings, visitation (overnights with the non-custodial parent (NCP)), health insurance costs, and several other factors.

If tables are used in the guidelines those tables are computed by economists such as Policy Studies, Inc.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arizona Child Support Guidelines|url=http://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw/arizonachildsupportguidelines.aspx|work=azcourts.gov|publisher=Arizona Judicial Branch|access-date=25 March 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226140701/http://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw/arizonachildsupportguidelines.aspx|archive-date=26 February 2014}}</ref> They examine spending patterns of couples without children and couples with children in the consumer expenditure survey.<ref>{{cite web|last=Policy Studies Inc.|title=Economic Basis for Updated Child Support Schedule|url=http://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/31/Child%20Support/psi1.pdf|work=azcourts.gov|publisher=State of Arizona|access-date=22 March 2014|page=2|date=6 February 2003}}</ref> The amount of additional money spent on the children (for expenses such as automobile insurance; AP exams; cell phones and plans; Christmas presents; educational expenses (trips, pictures, study guides, tutoring, AP and SAT exams, books, supplies, and uniforms); laptops; music lessons; parking fees; private school tuition; sports activities; and summer camps is computed and reduced to a table. Separating parents then find their incomes in the table and how much average intact families pay on children. In the widely used income shares model that amount is divided in proportion to the parents income.<ref>{{cite web|title=Child Support Guidelines Worksheet|url=http://www.courts.state.va.us/forms/district/dc637.pdf|work=va.us|publisher=Commonwealth of Virginia|access-date=22 March 2014}}</ref>