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Update to Indiana’s Child Support Guidelines

Oct 27, 2023

Author: Heidi Koeneman

On October 17, 2023, the Indiana Supreme Court issued an order amending the state’s Child Support Rules and Guidelines. These amended rules and guidelines will go into effect on January 1, 2024. These amendments are primarily the result of a need to recalculate and reconsider child support in light of the growing costs to raise children, and the rising cost of inflation.  And on the whole, will result in an increase to the weekly support obligation for most parents.   

Within the various amendments is a discussion around the use of new economic data. This discussion introduces the “Rothbarth” approach, which is based on the assumption that the amount of spending on children can be inferred by examining how parents reduce spending on themselves as the number of children in the family increases. The approach uses the data of Consumer Expenditure Surveys from 2013 to 2019 as support for its findings. The approach was considered a more accurate reflection of direct estimates of child spending levels than used in the existing rules and guidelines.

This data on the spending by intact families on children prompted changes to the Weekly Support schedule.

Other changes are the elimination of the 6% rule for new child support orders entered after January 1, 2024 or modified support orders after that date.

The goal is to eliminate the confusion of how to prove the expenses you’ve paid for your children for uninsured health care expenses and hopefully simplify that process.  Instead of relying on the custodial parent to front those expenses through child support, both parents will share any uninsured health care costs beginning with the first $1 on an income shares model.

If you have questions regarding these updates, child support, or believe that its time to recalculate the weekly child support you pay or receive, contact a member of our Family Law team today!!