Child Support

In family law child support is the ongoing obligation for payments made directly or indirectly by an ("obligor") to an ("obligee") for the financial care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has been terminated, or in some cases never existed.

The regulations for setting child support payments under the Federal Divorce Act are called the Federal Child Support Guidelines and came into effect May 1, 1997. The guidelines consist of a set of rules and tables for calculating the amount of support that a paying parent should contribute towards his or her children.