I received the following question:
Hi Listmates,
For someone who's done a lot of divorces, this is probably a simple question, so I'm hoping someone can help me. I'm handling my first disso. It's uncontested, and the parties have agreed on most things. They've agreed they want the court to determine the proper child support amount, using their guidelines.  The place where it looks like I can request that the court do that is on Form FL-350  - Stipulation to Establish or Modify Child Support and Order. I've attached that form to this email, because I'm confused by it! It asks for the parties' Monthly Disposable Income...but I thought that the child support calculation was based on the parties' actual gross or net income??  And if it's really based on their disposable income, how is that fair, if the parties make the same amount, but the father (the one who will owe support) has a lot more expenses because he bought an expensive car and lots of gadgets on credit right after the separation?

How can I make sure that the __________ gets the fair amount of child support? (parties have agreed to 70/30% custody)

My answer: 

Interesting questions.
If you have already calculated the nets using a computer program that calculates the guideline support, then you would not necessarily need the Court to do anything.  Therefore I see your point that form FL-350 is not that helpful to you.

Although the form is "mandatory," you can't fill it out if you do not have an agreement on all of the necessary factors.  If both parties can agree on everything that needs to be filled out, then use the form.  If not, you can do a separate agreement that states the parties do not agree on the amount of support, but do agree on the following factors.  For example: "Husbands gross income is ____.  Wife's gross income is ____.  Husband will be filing Single with 1 exemption, and has health insurance of _____ premiums per month.  Wife is filing Head of Household with 2 exemptions, and has a health insurance premium of ____ per month.  and the timeshare is 70% to mother and 30% to father.  And based upon the foregoing, the parties ask the Court to calculate guideline child support."

The Court appreciates it when we settle as much as we can, and if anything is left over, the guideline calculation is a simple few minute issue for the court.

Of course you can always calculate it yourself....
https://www.cse.ca.gov/ChildSupport/cse/guidelineCalculator

And the monthly disposable income = the gross income less taxes and other allowable deductions.  (Look at page 2 under section 10 of the Income and Expense Declaration where there is a small list of items, including union dues, health insurance, prior orders for support, etc.  These are the items that are allowable deductions.)  Regular living expenses (such as a car payment) are not deducted from income to determine the monthly disposable income for purposes of child support.

Keep in mind that even though this case is uncontested, that they both have to do their disclosures, including an Income and Expense Declaration.  That will give the Court everything it needs.
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Need to know how to calculate child support in California?  The Department of Child Support Services has a calculator for determining the amount.

California Department of Child Support Services - Child Support Calcultor
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The lawyerly answer is it depends on your specific situation.  And that is true.  But in 90% of the cases, you can simply obtain a packet from the clerk for your situation.  Need to file for dissolution? They have a Dissolution packet. They also have a Paternity packet.  And they have a packet for requesting a hearing (Order to Show Cause packet). They also have packets for filing for Domestic Violence Restraining Orders.  If you do not want to go into the Courthouse to get these packets, you can download them.  Downloading packages also allows you to fill them in with a computer. http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page?_pageid=55,1058589,55_1524847&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
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You can download most of the forms you will need from the Judicial Council website. (http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/)  You may need some additional forms from your county courthouse. In San Diego, we have some additional forms. (http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page?_pageid=55,1058589,55_1058624&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL)  

To Fill in these forms, you can use Adobe Reader, but most of the forms cannot be saved with Adobe Reader after they have been filled in. (The forms will save, but usually the data will be lost.) (http://www.adobe.com/)  If you want to use Adobe to save your filled in forms with data, you can buy Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional.  

Another program that I really like is Foxit Reader. (http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/) It will allow you to save the forms with the data. That way, if you have to modify it later, you can. The basic program is free. And that allows you to save your data.

In San Diego, they want the Income and Expense Declaration on green paper, and they want the Response to the Petition on goldenrod paper.
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FOR FAMILY LAW:If you are a victim of domestic violence, there are attorneys who volunteer their time, and public services organizations like the San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, the YWCA and Center for Community Solutions who provide attorneys and paralegals at all of the courthouses in San Diego. Generally speaking they will help you prepare your pleadings, and (rarely) in some cases may even provide an attorney to represent you in the Courtroom.  If you are looking for free help concerning dissolution of marriage, legal separation, nullity, paternity, restraining orders, etc., there are family law facilitators located at every family law courthouse in the County of San Diego.  They will help you prepare your pleadings and answer general questions.  They will prepare all pleadings necessary to obtain or enforce orders concerning child support.  If you have detailed questions concerning property division issues, they may or may not be able to help.  If you are looking for help in obtaining an order for child support, or enforcing an order for child support, the San Diego County Department of Child Support Services is located at 220 West Broadway on the 5th floor in San Diego, California. Or at 325 South Melrose in Vista, California.  They have access to enforcement tools that private attorneys do not have, such as license suspensions, and tax refund interception.  In addition, they have access to almost all of the enforcement options that private attorneys have.  If you just need help figuring out which forms to fill out, you can ask the clerk at the Family Law Business Offices to provide a package of forms.  They have packages to help you proceed through a divorce case, or to file a motion.  The packages come with some instructions.  Why would an attorney who handles family law matters refer people to free legal services?  Because, people need help.  And not everyone can afford to pay an attorney even $500.  Many attorneys are much more expensive.Family Law is complicated.  The parties still need help figuring out which forms need to be filled out.  The system, in my opinion, is bewildering to a parent/party who has never been through this before.  The Judicial Council has tried to make things easier by having standardized forms, and that helps, but not everyone knows which forms are necessary for their particular case.  There are literally hundreds of forms listed on http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/ and figuring out which ones you need can be difficult without some help.  In addition, local courts may require additional forms which are not available on the judicial council website.
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