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How Do You Calculate Child Support in Nevada?

Child support is a financial contribution that each parent makes in order to help provide financial support to his or her children.  Child support is generally required until a child has become emancipated. For most kids, this appears at age 18, or at age 19 if the child is still going to high school at the age of 18. A parent is always going to be obliged to pay child support, even if he or she does not have an ongoing relationship with the kids (unless or until parental rights are terminated by the court).

There is a standard formula that is used to calculate child support in Nevada and an experienced Las Vegas divorce lawyer at Pintar Albiston, LLP can provide you with assistance and advice in determining the amount of support that will need to be paid upon your divorce or your separation.  To learn more and to get help with your child support and custody issues, call today to speak with an attorney.

How to Calculate Child Support in Nevada

In order to calculate child support in Nevada, determine the income of the non-custodial parent who is going to be responsible for making the payments.  Income includes salary earned from a job, as well as money earned from consistent overtime that the worker regularly receives.  All self-employment income and money earned from running a business counts as income for child support. Imputed income also counts as income for child support.

Once the parent’s income has been determined, the amount of support is set based on a percentage of that income. The percentage of income is determined by the total number of shared kids.  The Clark County court’s website provides details on the percentage of income that a parent has to pay for child support:

  • A parent with one child must pay 18 percent of gross monthly income in child support.
  • A parent who has two children must pay 25 percent of gross monthly income.
  • A parent who has three children must pay 29 percent of gross monthly income
  • A parent with four children must pay 31 percent of gross monthly income.
  • For each child above four, the parent must pay two percent more of his income per month in support.

There is a presumptive minimum and maximum support amount that is set based on income range, which can be found on the Clark County court’s site.

Parents who have shared custody will also use a different calculation to determine the amount of support to be paid. A joint custody arrangement is defined as an arrangement where each parent has physical custody of the child at least 40 percent of the time in a one-year period.

When the parents have this type of custody agreement, then the first step to calculate child support in Nevada is to determine how much each parent would pay under the standard primary custody calculation. Whatever the difference is between these two amounts, the parent with the higher income must pay to the parent with the lower income.

Las Vegas divorce lawyer at Pintar Albiston, LLP can provide assistance with calculating child support in your divorce or separation. Call today to schedule a consultation and learn more.