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Welcome to Family Law Matters. I’m Dr. Michael Mantell, joining Bonnie Rabinovitch-Mantel, who is the owner and managing partner of the Primus Family Law Group. Hi, Bonnie.

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Hi, Michael. How are you doing today? I’m doing great. You know, we always have to remind our viewers and listeners, we’re not related.

The name may sound the same, but we’re not related. No, we’re not. I spell my name correctly with two L’s, and you, unfortunately, Canadians, you spell it with one L. Wow.

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Or something like that. Right. So I understand September 1st is going to be a big day in the family law divorce law in California, San Diego, with a new change in child support laws.

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Yes, Michael. Tell me about that. So what’s interesting is, as you know, we’ve discussed how child support is determined, and there’s a base amount of child support that gets determined based on income and timeshare and a couple of other things.

And that’s the base amount of child support, which is supposed to cover room, board, you know, and basic food, that kind of thing. However, there is also mandatory add-ons to child support. So unreimbursed medical expenses, you carry insurance, you get a copay, that is supposed to be split between the parents, presumptively 50-50.

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The same thing with child care, either party needs to work. That’s presumptively split 50-50. In September, that’s going to change.

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It is no longer going to be a presumptive 50-50 split. What the court is going to be able to entertain is a pro rata share based on the net incomes of the parties after support is paid. So when we calculate child support, you’ve got gross income, and then you have what is each party’s expected net income after one person pays support.

Decrease there, add there, how much do they have? And each person then has a certain percentage of the whole. That is now how people are going to be able to argue to pay for these mandatory add-ons. Because realistically, Michael, if two people are getting divorced and parent one makes four times as much as parent two, and after support is paid, parent one makes two and a half times as much as parent two, it stands to reason that the parent who has more net income should pay more towards these expenses.

So that has now been the change in the law. What’s also interesting, it’s the first time net income is being considered. Everything in child support, spousal support has always been gross income, which can be interesting when you’re not taking into account taxes and all the things that the government likes to come in and suck out of your pay.

And so sometimes people end up taking home after support is paid, not enough to even pay their own expenses. So what prompted this change? I would think, well actually to be honest with you, I don’t know what prompted it, what they all sat down in the room, but it makes sense that for these add-ons to support, which are over and above what somebody’s already having to pay by the guideline, that there is a prorated amount. We used to be able to ask the court to allocate it and the court could tell us no, it’s going to be 50-50.

But now they really do have to consider that and orders are going to be made more now that are an allocation based on income. How do you think this is good? I think it’s fair. I think people are going to be upset.

Well, the payor of support is now going to end up paying more and they are going to be upset because all of these mandatory add-ons are not tax deductible. You’re not going to get a benefit at the end of the year. But I think it makes sense because a lot of parents who can’t afford the 50% share, you’re getting into litigation about arrears and he doesn’t have it and then there’s interest that’s on these arrears.

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So hopefully things kids need will get paid better. And this is just in California? This for now is the statewide change in California. Right, okay.

And if people have questions, and I’m sure they will, this is coming up in a month or thereabouts, how can they reach you? They can reach us at 619-574-8000 and I’d be more than happy to explain the effect of this new law on either their current orders or possible modifications with a free 30-minute phone consultation. Or you can reach me online through my website at www.primusfamilylaw.com and fill out the form. And if your case is in San Diego or you reside in San Diego, you’ll be put on my calendar for that free 30-minute phone consultation.