Child Support: Diapers and bottles and bibs, Oh MY!
01.31.2025
By Attorney Adam Sorrentino
Whether you just had your first baby, or are a parenting pro, separating from your significant other can feel like you just landed in munchkin land. Except there’s no yellow brick road to help you get back.
A lot of parents feel stranded, and the anxiety of supporting yourself and your child (or children) can become overwhelming. Despite these common feelings, when child support comes up, it can be one of the most contentious issues in a family case. Rest assured, there are no fake wizards, flying monkeys, or melting witches waiting for you in family court. So, let’s take a peek behind the curtain and hopefully learn a little more about caring for your very own munchkins!
Wisconsin has an in-depth system for determining child support. If a parent has primary (or sole) placement of the children, that parent will receive child support based on a percentage of the other parent’s income. Those percentages are as follows:
- 1 child – 17%
- 2 children – 25%
- 3 children – 29%
- 4 children – 31%
- 5 or more – 34%
These numbers can then be modified depending on the amount of overnight placement each parent has. Modifications begin once the parent with less time exercises at least 25% of placement with the children (or 92 overnights in a year). Basically, child support can go down as a parent gets more overnights, because they will take on more of the costs themselves. At this point, the income of both parents is typically used to determine the amount of child support paid. As placement gets closer to 50/50, child support will begin to shrink and can sometimes disappear.
However, it is important to note that even if placement becomes equal, child support often does not go away entirely. The amounts owed are based on both parents’ income and are sometimes balanced or skewed by one parent providing insurance coverage or covering other costs. Additionally, a court will usually also determine how parents split “variable expenses.” These are costs beyond normal care, for example, daycare, tuition, school supplies, and extracurriculars. These costs are also balanced based on the parents’ placement times, incomes, and other support.
Finally, the Wisconsin Child Support system also has calculations for unique family situations. For example, serial family cases (one parent pays child support to multiple families), split placement cases (one family where parents have primary placement of different children), and High- and Low-Income cases.
Remember, as scary as it may seem, child support was created as a way to directly contribute to the health, benefit, and safety of your children. If you are filing, or have filed, for child support and do not know where to begin, contact an attorney or your local child support agency at your earliest convenience to determine what steps to take next.