Important Changes to Child Support
The Family Code, which governs all family law-related issues including child support, is frequently revised and updated. One important code section set to change later this year is Family Code Section 4062, which deals with additional child support, also known as child support “add-ons”. These are expenses for the benefit of child(ren) that are added on to the base amount of monthly child support – hence, “add-ons”. Additional child support can either be mandatory or optional, depending on the type of additional expense.
Add-On Law Through August 30, 2024
Family Code Section 4062 as written and presently in effect states as follows:
(a) The court shall order the following as additional child support:
(1) Childcare costs related to employment or to reasonably necessary education or training for employment skills.
(2) The reasonable uninsured health care costs for the children as provided in Section 4063.
(b) The court may order the following as additional child support:
(1) Costs related to the educational or other special needs of the children.
(2) Travel expenses for visitation.
(c) This section shall become inoperative on September 1, 2024, and, as of January 1, 2025, is repealed.
What exactly does this mean? A few things:
Section (a) uses the word “shall”; this means the court must include childcare expenses related to employment anduninsured (out-of-pocket) healthcare costs for the child(ren) in addition to amounts for base child support. Note that Subsection (a)(2) also refers to Family Code Section 4063, which outlines the payment procedures for any out-of-pocket healthcare costs.
Section (b) states the court may include costs relating to education or other special needs of the children, and/or travel expenses for visitation as additional child support, but it isn’t mandatory to add these costs to base child support – it’s within the court’s discretion to order these types of expenses as additional child support.
Section (c), plainly put, says that as of September 1, 2024, Family Code Section 4062 as currently written will no longer apply. That leads to the next question – what happens as of September 1, 2024?
Add-On Law Starting September 1, 2024
A new version of Family Code Section 4062 goes into effect. That section will state as follows:
(a) The court shall order the following as additional child support:
(1) Childcare costs, if those expenses are actually incurred, related to employment or to reasonably necessary education or training for employment skills, as described in Section 4063, unless those costs are specifically included in the guideline calculation itself.
(2) The reasonable uninsured health care costs for the children as provided in Section 4063.
(b) The court may order the following as additional child support:
(1) Costs related to the educational or other special needs of the children.
(2) Travel expenses for visitation.
(c) This section shall be operative September 1, 2024.
At first glance, the current version and future version of Family Code Section 4062 appear fairly similar; however, there’s a substantial change between the two versions. Additional language in Subsection (a)(1) creates two new requirements.
First, the September 1, 2024, version of Family Code 4062 states that the court shall order childcare costs related to employment as additional child support if those expenses are actually incurred. Put differently, under the September 1, 2024 version of Family Code 4062, if employment-related childcare costs are not actually incurred (i.e., if a parent isn’t actually spending money on childcare for employment purposes), then such amounts won’t be ordered as a child support add-on.
Second, additional language in Subsection (a)(1) makes it so that that court must order childcare costs related to employment as additional child support unless those costs are specifically included in the guideline calculation itself. This language makes it so there’s no “double charge” on amounts for childcare costs – that is, if childcare costs are already included in the base amount of monthly child support, then said amounts don’t need to be added on again because they’ve already been accounted for.
It’s clear that as of September 1, 2024, the language of Family Code Section 4062 will change. So what does that mean for existing child support orders? Generally, changes to statutes in California are prospective, not retroactive; that is, unless the code section specifically states that changes to the code section are supposed to apply to orders previously made, said changes will only apply to future orders moving forward. As such, the changes to Family Code Section 4062 will only apply to orders made on or after September 1, 2024.
Because the Family code changes frequently and such changes can be complicated, it’s important to make sure you receive accurate legal advice. Our skilled and experienced attorneys can help guide you through any child support related questions and issues you may have.
