H. B. 2796
(By Delegate J. Miller)
[Introduced January 13, 2010; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §48-13-201 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the use of both
parents' income in determining child support, calculation of
adjusted gross income.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-13-201 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13. GUIDELINES FOR CHILD SUPPORT AWARDS.
PART 2. CALCULATION OF CHILD SUPPORT ORDER.
§48-13-201. Use of both parents' income in determining child
support;
calculation of adjusted gross income;
parent shall not pay child support if debt ratio
exceeds thirty-five percent of a parent's yearly
gross income; parent shall not pay child support
if the child support obligation exceeds ten percent of a parent's yearly gross income.
(a) A child support order is determined by dividing the total
child support obligation between the parents in proportion to their
income. Both parents'
yearly adjusted gross income is used to
determine the amount of child support.
(b) To determine a parent's yearly adjusted gross income, a
valid tax return from the previous year must be provided.
(c) Once a valid tax return from the previous year is
provided, all taxes, debts, judgments and collections shall be
deducted from the parent's adjusted gross income that appears on
the previous year's valid tax return. Further, all over-time
earned by the parent shall be excluded from the yearly adjusted
gross income calculation.
(d) To determine the amount of taxes to be deducted from the
parent's adjusted gross income, add all taxes paid that appear on
the previous year's valid tax return.
(e) To determine the amount of debts, judgments and
collections, the parent's credit report shall be accessed from one
of the three major credit bureaus in the United States: Equifax,
TransUnion or Esperian. After accessing the credit report from one
of the three major credit bureaus, add all monthly debts, judgments
and collections that appear on the parent's credit report and
multiply that monthly debt by twelve.
(f) If a current child support obligation is already in effect, current child support obligations must be considered in the
determination of a parent's yearly adjusted gross income. The
parent who receives child support shall add the yearly amount of
child support that he or she receives into his or her adjusted
gross income, and the parent who pays child support shall deduct
the total amount of child support that he or she pays from his or
her adjusted gross income.
(g) A parent shall not have to pay child support if that
parent's yearly debt ratio exceeds thirty-five percent of that
parent's yearly gross income. A parent's yearly gross income shall
be found on that parent's previous year's valid tax return. A
parent's yearly debt ratio shall be calculated by adding together
all yearly taxes, debts, judgments, collections and child support
payments.
(h) A parent shall not have to pay child support if the
determined yearly child support obligation exceeds ten percent of
that parent's yearly gross income. A parent's yearly gross income
shall be found on that parent's previous year's valid tax return.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include child support
that is received by a parent into their monthly adjusted gross
income. A parent's monthly adjusted gross income shall not include
taxes or debt, including collections or judgments. The bill
provides a maximum debt ratio, beyond which child support will not
be awarded. The bill further provides that a parent will not have
to pay child support if the yearly child support obligation exceeds
ten percent of that parent's yearly gross income.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.