How Child Support Is Calculated in Utah

Utah uses an income shares model. The guidelines have three parts: base child support, medical care and child care. Statutory tables set a total support amount that the parents share in proportion to their incomes, and the noncustodial parent pays the custodial parent. Parents share the child's share of health insurance premiums, uninsured medical costs and work-related child care equally. In divorce cases, MyPaperwork calculates child support and prepares the worksheets; the Office of Recovery Services also offers an online calculator.

Apply for child support services with the Utah Office of Recovery Services (ORS) using its online application (which ORS says is easier for most people) or a paper application that can be printed or requested by mail, in English or Spanish. A separate application is needed for each family group, and you send copies, not originals, of documents such as existing orders or divorce decrees. ORS lists no application fee, but it charges a 6% payment processing fee on payments (capped at $12 a month) and a $35 annual fee once at least $550 has been collected in a federal fiscal year, with exceptions for families receiving Cash Assistance or Medicaid.

Child support generally continues until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school during the child's normal and expected year of graduation, whichever is later. Support also ends if the child dies, marries, joins the U.S. armed forces, or is legally emancipated. A son or daughter of any age who is incapacitated from earning a living and cannot support themselves is still a "child" for support purposes, and the courts' self-help page says a court may order support to continue after 18 for a disabled child who remains a dependent. When one child ages out, the base award is generally adjusted automatically for the remaining children unless the order says otherwise.

A parent, guardian or ORS may ask the court at any time to change support if there has been a substantial change in circumstances, such as material changes in custody, a 30% or greater change in a parent's income, changes in earning ability, the child's medical needs, or a parent's legal duty to support others; a change in the support tables alone does not count. The court adjusts the amount if the change produces a difference of 15% or more from the guidelines amount and is not temporary. If the order has not been issued or changed in the past three years, a party may ask for an adjustment without showing a substantial change, and the court adjusts it if the difference is 10% or more and not temporary. Requests to ORS for review and adjustment must be made in writing, and ORS aims to finish within 180 days.

In Utah, past-due child support becomes a judgment. Once certain amounts are past due, ORS can automatically intercept federal and state tax refunds and payments from state or local agencies (such as unemployment or workers' compensation), report the debt to credit bureaus and district courts, place liens on property, deny or restrict a passport, and suspend some recreational licenses. ORS can also take money from bank accounts through a lien, suspend driver's, professional and occupational licenses, and collect through income withholding. In court, ORS may start civil contempt proceedings (sanctions can include community service or short-term jail) or refer cases for criminal nonsupport prosecution. A parent can also file a motion asking the court to enforce an order.

Utah's child support agency is the Office of Recovery Services (ORS), part of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. ORS locates parents, establishes paternity, establishes child support orders, sets and enforces medical support, and collects child support. Apply online (you receive an application number to write on copies of your documents) or with the paper application in English or Spanish; a separate application is needed for each family group. The ORS site has a Pay Child Support page, and the online Case Management System shows payment information, case status and balances. Child Support customer service: (801) 536-8500.

Utah's Office of Recovery Services (ORS, Utah DHHS) offers an online Child Support Calculator that estimates child support amounts from the information you enter and completes the necessary worksheets; printable worksheets reflecting the child support tables in Utah Code Title 81, Chapter 6, Part 3 are also available. ORS says both methods only produce an estimate, and ORS or the court decides the final amount.