Child support follows the Federal Child Support Guidelines, based on income and number of children — but real cases involve real complexity: self-employment income often needs adjustment, shared parenting arrangements change the formula, and courts can impute income to a parent who is intentionally underemployed.
How Child Support Is Calculated
- Base amount: Set using the federal child support tables, based on the paying parent’s gross income and the number of children.
- Self-employment income: Courts often adjust reported business income to reflect actual earnings, adding back personal expenses claimed as business deductions.
- Shared parenting: Where each parent has the child at least 40% of the time, support is typically calculated using a set-off method — comparing what each parent would owe the other, then paying the difference — rather than a straight table amount.
- Imputed income: Under section 19 of the Federal Child Support Guidelines, a court can attribute a higher income to a parent who is intentionally unemployed or underemployed, so support isn’t reduced by a parent’s own choice to earn less.
How Spousal Support Is Determined
Spousal support has no fixed formula at all — only a range, under the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG). Where support falls within that range depends on factors including:
- The length of the relationship
- The roles each spouse took on during the relationship
- The income of each spouse, and any gap between them
- Whether child support is also being paid
Because the SSAG produces a range rather than a single number, the actual figure is a matter of negotiation grounded in your specific circumstances.
Why Full Disclosure Comes First
Full financial disclosure matters most here, and it’s non-negotiable in our process, because a support agreement built on incomplete numbers is one that eventually breaks down. Incomplete disclosure is also one of the most common grounds for a court to later impute income or reopen a support agreement.
Our Approach
We calculate child support accurately, negotiate spousal support within the Advisory range, and make sure both numbers are ones you can trust and defend.
The Gap Emerald Simple Divorce Fills
Support disputes often stall not because the law is unclear, but because the underlying numbers are incomplete or disputed. Rather than negotiating around partial information, we require full disclosure upfront — so the numbers you agree to are the numbers that will hold up if ever reviewed.
What’s Unique About Emerald Simple Divorce
- Disclosure-first process — we don’t build a support agreement on numbers we haven’t verified.
- Accurate, defensible figures — calculations grounded in the Federal Guidelines and SSAG range, not estimates.
- Complexity handled directly — self-employment income, shared parenting formulas, and imputed income are addressed as part of our standard process, not treated as exceptions.