Are Changes Coming to the Indiana Child Support Guidelines?

By John R. Owens, Marion County Prosecutor's Office

The Domestic Relations Committee of the Indiana Judicial Conference has begun the quadrennial review of the Indiana Child Support Guidelines. Federal regulations require each state to have presumptive guidelines and to review them no less than every four years. Indiana’s guidelines fall under the mandate of the Indiana Supreme Court, with the Domestic Relations Committee (DRC) undertaking the review process, culminating in a report to the Supreme Court with recommendations for changes.

The current review is nearing the end of the process. The review has included looking at the basic subsistence needs of parents, medical support, and transparency in the support guideline review process. The DRC has also heard from an economist discussing how often selected states deviate from their guidelines and received additional information how revised federal rules impact Indiana’s guidelines. Additionally, the DRC invited interested persons to submit written comments for revisions through August 27 and conducted an open hearing on August 17 in the Supreme Court Courtroom. More than twenty people gave personal views. The DRC will now sift through the information and develop their proposal for changes. The proposed changes are expected to be submitted to the Supreme Court for consideration near the end of the year.

Related to the ongoing review is a proposal approved by the DRC to update the Court’s Child Support Calculator program. The DRC would like to revise and update the current calculator. The proposal includes ways to make the Calculator more user-friendly and provide a web-based version which would be mobile friendly. Stay tuned for additional updates!

If you would like to submit content or write an article for the Family Law Section, please email Kara Sikorski at ksikorski@indybar.org.