Minnesota Modifies Child Support System

By Christina Rentz

Published on September 23, 2005

Minnesota's current child support guidelines only consider the non-custodial parent's income when calculating child support payments. Most often, the non-custodial parent is the father. However, Minnesota has the highest percentage of women employed outside the home than any other state, which prompted lawmakers to make a drastic change in the system.

The new law aims at restoring fairness and diminishing the discrepancy in financial obligations. It is not uncommon for a non-custodial parent to make a decent salary only to be left with an income well below the poverty line after child support and medical insurance payments are withdrawn. If the custodial parent works and also earns decent wages, Minnesota lawmakers say the custodial parent should bare some of the financial responsibility for the child.

The new guidelines will make child support payments more manageable for low-income parents, even if both parents are low-income wage earners. Under the new system, the parent paying child support would keep, at the minimum, 120 percent of the federal poverty guideline for a single person, which is roughly $11,000.

Lawmakers and child support officials will begin phasing the new system in on January 1, 2006. Approximately 300,000 children will be affected by this overhaul.

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