Family Law SoftwareGet ready to answer your phone … possibly, a lot! Starting July 15, millions of families will start receiving monthly child tax credit payments. Your clients could be among them, and they’ll definitely have questions. As part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of 2021, signed into law in March, roughly 39 million families […]
On May 27, Dan Caine, the President of Family Law Software, presented a Webinar on the American Rescue Plan — Provisions and Strategies. We have now posted that Webinar on YouTube, and you may view it here: If you wish to view the slides, you may do so here. During the Webinar, people typed questions […]
It is an important but little-known fact that in the event of exactly equal parenting, the tax law provides that the higher-income parent will be considered as custodial. This seems innocuous, but in fact, this determination could have a number of unpleasant consequences. First, the lower income parent would be denied the ability to claim […]
The American rescue act affected three credits in dramatic way, especially for lower income households. Click here for our blog post about these credits. These credits dramatically increase after-tax income, especially for lower-income households, but they are effective only for the year 2021. How does this affect child support? The impact on child support occurs […]
As you may know, Congress passed a stimulus bill in March, 2021, officially called the American Rescue Plan. The bill has many provisions, but three tax provisions in particular will affect the calculations in Family Law Software, especially for the 2021 tax year, with significant impact on cash flow, taxes, and child support. This will […]
People ask which year’s numbers they should use for guidelines and budgets: last year’s? This year’s? Next year’s? The year you use depends on the purpose for which you are using the results. Guidelines. For child and spousal support guidelines, people tend to use current year numbers. However, since the guideline payment amount tends to […]
In marriage dissolution cases, the alimony and child support you calculate depend on the parties’ net incomes. “Net income” Seems like a simple concept. But sometimes it is not so simple to figure out the amount of money that is actually available to spend. Often during divorce, the client who will be required to pay […]
Many state child support statutes are fuzzy when parents have exactly equal parenting arrangements. Let’s consider Colorado, for one example. In Colorado, the question is whether we should calculate exactly equal parenting as “shared” or as “split” custody. Under the statute, “shared” physical care means that each parent keeps the children overnight for more than […]
As the global pandemic began to impact the U.S. economy, Congress passed sweeping legislation in an attempt to deal with the anticipated fallout. First, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Shortly thereafter Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Between the two acts there are provisions that […]
Let’s look at the hypothetical case of a state trooper who has been working 10 years. His accrued pension benefit is $2,500 a month. If he works another 10 years, his accrued pension benefit will be $4,500 a month. He is 52 years old and seems likely to work until regular retirement at age 62. […]