Under Nevada law, all parents have a legal duty to financially provide for their children’s “maintenance, health care, education and support”. Calculating and properly determining child support can be tricky. Whether you are looking at paying child support or receiving it, you should understand how child support is calculated pursuant to Nevada law.
Child Support Paid to Parent with Primary Custody
Nevada law requires both parents to financially support their children; however, the law presumes that a parent with primary physical custody of a child already directly pays their share in their care and custody of the child. It is upon the parent without primary physical custody to make monthly child support payments. Thus, child support in a primary physical custody situation is determined solely by calculating what must be paid by the parent that does not have primary physical custody.
Child Support With Joint Physical Custody
When parents have joint physical custody, each parent has the obligation to pay child support. In order to simplify matters, each parent’s child support obligation is determined and then offset, with the parent with the higher child support obligation paying the other the difference.
How Child Support is Calculated
In determining a parent’s child support obligation, the courts consider the gross monthly income of each parent and the number of children between the parents. Based on the supporting parent’s gross monthly income, the parent must pay the following percentage of this number based on the number of children shared by the parents:
- For one child, 18 percent;
- For two children, 25 percent;
- For three children, 29 percent;
- For four children, 31 percent; and
- For each additional child, an additional 2 percent,
However, the parent’s payment cannot exceed a “presumptive maximum” amount per month. The Nevada Supreme Court releases inflation-adjusted presumptive maximum child support obligations. For the period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, the presumptive maximums are as follows:
Income Range Presumptive Monthly Maximum Per Child
$0 – $4235 $728
$4235 – $6351 $800
$6351 – $8467 $876
$8467 – $10,585 $946
$10,585 – $12,701 $1019
$12,701 – $14,816 $1091
$14,816 – No Limit $1165
Significantly, the child support obligation may change based on several specific deviation factors the courts can consider based upon the judge’s discretion.
In addition, determining child support becomes more complicated when parents have mixed custody of multiple children, such as sharing joint physical custody of one child, but one parent having primary physical custody of another child.
To make matters even more complicated, the law regarding child support is expected to completely change in the near future.
Viloria, Oliphant, Oster & Aman L.L.P. is Here for You
Viloria, Oliphant, Oster & Aman, L.L.P. is a full-service law firm that provides individuals with comprehensive, high-quality representation. If your relationship with a person in which you share custody is ending, you have significant legal rights that you should not leave to chance. Our attorneys are smart, proven professionals who will fight for you. Contact Viloria, Oliphant, Oster & Aman L.L.P. today at (775) 227-2280 to schedule an initial consultation or contact our office through our website.