Am I able to get an increase in child support if I'm going back to school?

If you have a "material change" in circumstances, one that will result in a 15% change you may get a new order. Please contact your local child support office and submit a review request. Good luck!

Generally in Kentucky when a parent goes back to school, the fact that they are going back to school does not warrant a modification of child support. In Kentucky child support is computed using a formula. That formula takes into account four numbers; both parents monthly income, the child care costs, and the child's health insurance costs. The Kentucky child support formula does not consider the parents bills or expenses. If a parent is capable of making more income than they currently make, the Court may use the amount they are capable of making when computing the formula. This often occurs where a person leaves there job or takes a lower paying job. In the case of a parent going back to school, the formula does not consider school costs (expenses) and if a parent works less because they are in school the Court often uses the income they could be making if they were working full time. For this reason, there is often no change in the child support amount. I have heard a Judge explain this as, "the other parent is supposed to be providing support for the child, and nothing has changed for the child. The other parent is not supposed to be paying for [in that case the father] to go back to school." One way this situation does effect child support is when the child care changes. If going back to school causes the child to need additional child care, and that child care comes at an additional cost, it likely will effect the child support (because child care costs is one of the numbers in the formula. If the child care costs increase because you are in school the child support payments would generally increase as well. You would need to run the child support calculation to see how much the payments would increase. It is usually close to the percentage of the other parents income. For example if the parents have equal monthly income, the other parents child support would usually increase by about 50% of the additional cost of child care; but if the other parents income was 75% of the parents combined income, the other parents child support would generally increase by 75% of the additional cost of child care. That is only an estimate and you should run the formula to be sure. The last thing to remember about child support is when it can be modified. If the current child support order has been in effect for more than 2 years either party can seek to modify the order, up or down. If the current child support order has been in effect less than 2 years the party seeking the modification will generally have to show that there should be at least a 15% change in the child support amount. This is to prevent people from running back to court every paycheck when they got more or less overtime than the week before. You should run a child support calculation and than based on the numbers decide if it is worth seeking a modification. Best of luck.