Section 150.03. Support orders.

 

(1)   Determining child support using the percentage standard. The court shall determine a parent's monthly income available for child support by adding together the parent's annual gross income or, if applicable, the parent's annual income modified for business expenses; the parent's annual income imputed based on earning capacity; and the parent's annual income imputed from assets, and dividing that total by 12. This may be done by completing the worksheet in Appendix B, although use of the worksheet for this purpose is not required. Except as provided in s. DCF 150.04 (4) and (5) , the percentage of the parent's monthly income available for child support or adjusted monthly income available for child support that constitutes the child support obligation shall be:

(a) 17% for one child;

(b) 25% for 2 children;

(c) 29% for 3 children;

(d) 31% for 4 children; and

(e) 34% for 5 or more children.

(2)   Determining income modified for business expenses. In determining a parent's monthly income available for child support under sub. (1) , the court may adjust a parent's gross income as follows:

(a) Adding wages paid to dependent household members.

(b) Adding undistributed income that meets the criteria in s. DCF 150.02 (13) (a) 9. and that the court determines is not reasonably necessary for the growth of the business. The parent shall have the burden of proof to show that any undistributed income is reasonably necessary for the growth of the business.

(c) Reducing gross income by the business expenses that the court determines are reasonably necessary for the production of that income or operation of the business and that may differ from the determination of allowable business expenses for tax purposes.

(3)   Determining income imputed based on earning capacity. In situations where the income of a parent is less than the parent's earning capacity or is unknown, the court may impute income to the parent at an amount that represents the parent's ability to earn, based on the parent's education, training and recent work experience, earnings during previous periods, current physical and mental health, history of child care responsibilities as the parent with primary physical placement, and the availability of work in or near the parent's community. If evidence is presented that due diligence has been exercised to ascertain information on the parent's actual income or ability to earn and that information is unavailable, the court may impute to the parent the income that a person would earn by working 35 hours per week for the higher of the federal minimum hourly wage under 29 USC 206 (a) (1) or the state minimum wage in s. DWD 272.03 . If a parent has gross income or income modified for business expenses below his or her earning capacity, the income imputed based on earning capacity shall be the difference between the parent's earning capacity and the parent's gross income or income modified for business expenses.

(4)   Determining income imputed from assets.

(a) The court may impute a reasonable earning potential to a parent's assets if the court finds both of the following:

1. The parent has ownership and control over any real or personal property, including but not limited to, life insurance, cash and deposit accounts, stocks and bonds, business interests, net proceeds resulting from worker's compensation or other personal injury awards not intended to replace income, and cash and corporate income in a corporation in which the parent has an ownership interest sufficient to individually exercise control and the cash or corporate income is not included as gross income under s. DCF 150.02 (13) .

2. The parent's assets are underproductive and at least one of the following applies:

a. The parent has diverted income into assets to avoid paying child support.

b. Income from the parent's assets is necessary to maintain the child or children at the standard of living they would have had if they were living with both parents.

(b) The court shall impute income to assets by multiplying the total net value of the assets by the current 6-month treasury bill rate or any other rate that the court determines is reasonable and subtracting the actual income from the assets that was included as gross income under s. DCF 150.02 (13) .

(5)   Adjustment for child's social security. The court may include benefits received by a child under 42 USC 402 (d) based on a parent's entitlement to federal disability or old-age insurance benefits under 42 USC 401 to 433 in the parent's gross income and adjust a parent's child support obligation by subtracting the amount of the child's social security benefit. In no case may this adjustment require the payee to reimburse the payer for any portion of the child's benefit.

(6)   Determine child support before maintenance. If a payer will have obligations for both child support and maintenance to the same payee, the court shall determine the payer's child support obligation under this chapter before determining the payer's maintenance obligation under s. 767.56 , Stats.

(7)   Calculation of family support. When the standard under sub. (1) is used to calculate support under s. 767.531 , Stats., the amount determined shall be increased by the amount necessary to provide a net family support payment, after state and federal income taxes are paid, of at least the amount of a child support payment under the standard.

(8)   Expression of ordered support. The support amount shall be expressed as a fixed sum unless the parties have stipulated to expressing the amount as a percentage of the payer's income and the requirements under s. 767.34 (2) (am) 1. to 3. , Stats., are satisfied.

(9)   Trust. The court may protect and promote the best interests of the minor children by setting aside a portion of the child support that either party is ordered to pay in a separate fund or trust for the support, education, and welfare of such children.

(10)   Dependency exemption. The court may order the payee to waive the federal dependency exemption provided that the payee's execution of the exemption waiver is made contingent on the receipt of child support payments.

(11)   Deviation from the percentage standard.

(a) Upon request by a party, the court may modify the amount of child support payments determined under sub. (1) if, after considering the factors in s. 767.511 (1m) , Stats., as applicable, the court finds by the greater weight of the credible evidence that use of the percentage standard is unfair to the child or to any of the parties.

(b) If the court under par. (a) modifies the amount of child support payment determined under sub. (1) , the court shall state in writing or on the record the amount of support that would be required by using the percentage standard under sub. (1) , the amount by which the court's order deviates from that amount, its reasons for finding that use of the percentage standard is unfair to the child or the party, its reasons for the amount of the modification and the basis for the modification as provided under s. 767.511 (1n) , Stats.

History: Cr. Register, January, 1987, No. 373 , eff. 2-1-87; am. (1) (intro.), Register, August, 1987, No. 380 , eff. 9-1-87; am. (1) (intro.), renum. (2) to (4) to be (4) to (6) and am. (5), cr. (2), (3), (7), Register, February, 1995, No. 470 , eff. 3-1-95; corrections in (7) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register January 2003 No. 565 ; CR 03-022 : r. and recr. (1) (intro), (2), (3), and (5), renum. (4), (6) and (7) to be (7), (10) and (11), cr. (4), cr. (6), (8) and (9) Register December 2003 No. 576 , eff. 1-1-04; corrections in (6), (7), (8). (11) (a) and (b) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 7., Stats., Register June 2007 No. 618 ; corrections in (1) (intro.), (2) (b), (4) (a) 1. and (b) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register November 2008 No. 635 ; CR 08-066 : am. (3) Register December 2008 No. 636 , eff. 1-1-09.

Note

See Appendix A which indicates the amount of child support at various levels of income using the percentage standard. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1