New Mexico Child Support
This website is designed to help people understand how New Mexico calculates child support. I am an attorney, Bill Morgan, practicing in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you need a lawyer for your child support case, please contact me. There is a lot of information here and I hope it helps you.
The most popular page on the website is the calculators section at the lower right, called "CS Calculators." Most people jump right there and figure out their child support. There really is more to it, though. First, check the "Which Worksheet" page on the upper right. New Mexico has two ways of calculating child support and you want to make sure you use the right one. If you have questions about what to put on the worksheets, check out the section to the upper right called "Support Calculations." A lot of your questions will be answered there.
If you have lost your job or your wages have been cut
First off, sorry. These are tough times and I hope you get back on your feet fast. You need to be aware that the Courts will not look back to change your child support. They will look forward though to change your ongoing support. File a Motion to Modify your Child Support as soon as you can. Also, you should probably pay what you can while your case is ongoing.
The Courts will also expect you to try and find new employment and will review your efforts. Document all job hunting, follow up letters, and callbacks. The bigger the pile of paper, the more likely the Courts are to believe that you are making a good effort in securing new employment.
Family Law Blog for December 2008
New Child Support Guidelines- 12/01/08
In May of 2008 a new set of support guidelines went into effect. These guidelines will have the impact of increasing child support from 2 to 5% for middle income families according to this press release.
Here in New Mexico, we have a statute that complies with federal law that requires our state to periodically review the guidelines. This makes a lot of sense in most situations. If a state had a schedule that said for one child you get $500 a month, that should be reviewed to make sure it is correct. We should be sure we are allocating an appropriate amount of income to the support of our children. On the other hand, New Mexico's child support statutes are based on a percentage of the parents' total income. As the payor's income increases, more money is transferred to the custodial parent automatically. With the changes, they have determined that more money should be transferred for the support of the child, even if the income has not changed. Does it cost more now to raise a child than it did 10 years ago? Have our expenses on something decreased? I sure am not saying its wrong, but I would like to know what they were thinking.