History of the Child Support Schedule Workgroup

• Consider children from other relationships when determining child support amount  
• Economic table:

• Extended to include combined monthly net income of at least $12,000.
• Start at 125% of the federal poverty guidelines.
• Move upward in $100 increments.
• Don’t distinguish between children under 12 and those 12 and over.
• Based on net income and be entirely presumptive.

• Health care and child care costs:

• Should not be included in the economic table.
• Base on each parent’s proportionate share of the combined income.

• Self-support reserve should be tied to the federal poverty guidelines instead of need standard.
• Rules for income imputation should be clarified and provide a specific priority of when different types of income information should be used.
• Presumptive minimum support obligation should be raised to $50 per month per child.
• Increase allowance for voluntary retirement contributions.
• Income from overtime and second jobs (working over 40 hours per week averaged over a 12-month period) should be excluded under certain circumstances.
• Residential schedule should affect the child support obligation when there is a court order providing residential time for the child and non-custodial parent.
• Statute assigned 14 issues for this workgroup to consider (listed in 2007 report).

ESHB 1794 (Chapter 84, Laws of 2009)effective 10/01/09

Some changes to:

• Economic Table [RCW26.19.020]
• Income determination [RCW26.19.0710]
• Medical expenses [RCW 26.19.080]

• Legislature should adopt a new Economic Table:

• Based on more current data.
• Presumptive to $12,000 combined monthly net income.
• Don’t differentiate between age groups of children.

• Presumptive adjustment of support, not just a deviation, when a parent has children from other relationships:

• Calculated using whole family formula.
• Court can’t grant adjustment if it would leave “insufficient funds” in custodial parent household.

• Residential schedule credit adjustment, not just a deviation, based on the number of nights a child spends with each parent.

• Available in superior court and administrative forum.

• Amend statute on post-secondary educational support:

• More guidance on when to order post-secondary support.
• How to set the amounts.
• How and when to suspend and reinstate support.
• When and how support may be terminated.

•  Statutory references to the self-support reserve should be clarified to state self-support reserve is 125% of the federal poverty level for a one-person family.

SSB 6334 (Chapter 150, Laws of 2018) effective 01/01/19

• New economic table [RCW 26.19.020], including removing distinction between different age groups of children.
• Clarification of self-support reserve [RCW 26.19.065].

• Residential schedule:

• Formula for time with the children for whom support is being set.
• Should be available in court and administrative processes.
• Rules on when deviation may not be applied.
• Specify how and when deviation is to be calculated.
• If parent receiving deviation does not spend time with the children in the same amount as used as the basis for the deviation, there should be enforcement remedies available.

• Recommendations require revision of existing WSCSS worksheets.
• Clarify statute to offer more guidance on how to calculate the basic support obligation for the low-income parent.
• Endorses two recommendations of the 2011 child support schedule workgroup [see SSB 6334 (Chapter 150, Laws of 2018) effective 01/01/19].

SSB 6334 (Chapter 150, Laws of 2018)effective 01/01/19

• New economic table [RCW26.19.020], including removing distinction between different age groups of children.
• Clarification of self-support reserve [RCW 26.19.065].

• For purposes of imputing income, full-time employment should not necessarily mean 40 hours per week.

• For some parents, full-time employment is only 32 hours/week.
• Amend RCW 26.19.071(6) to include additional income imputation factors.
• Statute should take into account whether a parent has “no significant earnings history.”

• Imputation statute should contain a separate section dealing with appropriateness of imputing income to a parent who is enrolled in and attending high school.
• The Legislature should consider whether the current provisions regarding the Self-Support Reserve should be amended.
• Child support accruing during a dependency action may inhibit reunification of the family; Legislature should find a way to resolve this.

Legislature should find a way to resolve the related issues of shared parenting and an adjustment to child support based on the residential schedule.

SHB 2302 (Chapter 227, Laws of2020), effective 6/11/2020 except sections 3-13 effective February 1, 2021.

• Full-time definition [RCW26.19.011].
• Income imputation criteria [RCW 26.19.071].