6.1 Introduction

La. C.C. art. 237 mandates that parents provide their children with the necessities of life, which are limited to food, shelter, clothing, and basic or essential health care. Obviously, then, before child support can be ordered, the child must be filiated to the parent.

In a divorce proceeding, the court can award either interim or final child support, but interim support may be awarded only if a demand for final support is pending. An action for child support can also be brought if the parties are physically separated without the need for divorce to be pled.

Child support is determined by the needs of the child and the means of the parents.1  These are determined by applying the federally mandated child support guidelines found at La. R.S. 9:315, et seq. The guidelines use the parents’ incomes to determine the appropriate amount of child support. La. R.S. 9:315.20 prescribes Worksheets A and B for the calculation of the support obligation. Worksheet A is for joint, sole, or split custody.2  Worksheet B is for shared custody.3  A court may deviate from the child support guidelines if applying them would not be in the child’s best interest or would be inequitable to the parties.4  The party advocating for a deviation from the guidelines bears the burden of proof.5  If the court deviates from the presumptive guidelines, it must give reasons for the deviation.6  The reasons must include the amount required under a mechanical application of the guidelines.7  If the court reviews the parties’ stipulation for child support, it must review the adequacy of the stipulated amount under the child support guidelines.8

Either party may raise child support without it being specifically pleaded, and the court may hear and determine the issue if all parties consent.9  However, a word of caution, unless you have plenty of time in a child support proceeding to fully discuss custody and visitation, your client may be best served by filing an additional and separate custody petition.

After reading the child support statutes, you should read and understand the case law on these child support issues: voluntary underemployment or unemployment, extraordinary medical expenses, private school tuition, federal tax credit for daycare, assignment of the tax dependency deduction, expense sharing, adjustments to child support due to time spent with the non-domiciliary parent, extra judicial agreements, deviation from the guidelines, retroactivity, contempt, income assignment, child support suspension for incarcerated defendants, child support for adult children with disabilities, and the calculation of gross income.

Always remember that the court has the primary obligation to act as gatekeeper to make sure the child support obligation is in the child’s best interest. Even consent judgements should be presented to the court to ensure that the guidelines amount was determined and that all parties understand the mandated obligation.

• 1La. C.C. art. 141.
• 2On split custody, see Section 6.9.
• 3On shared custody, see Section 6.11.
• 4La. R.S. 9:315.1(B)(1).
• 5See La. R.S. 9:315.1(A) (establishing a rebuttable presumption that the amount of child support under the guidelines is the proper amount of support).
• 6La. R.S. 9:315.1(B)(1).
• 7Id.
• 8La. R.S. 9:315.1(D).
• 9La. R.S. 9:356.