Parents owe a duty to their children to provide what Iowa law calls “adequate support” in proportion to each parent’s respective income. This applies to cases where parents divorce or were never married but use the court system to create custody schedules and handle other matters regarding children. A parent sometimes offers an amount of child support they may consider adequate, but Iowa law is the determiner of what adequate means.

Magic Number Factors

Iowa has child support guidelines parents must generally use to determine the magic number for child support. The phrase “magic number” is used because there are a variety of factors to determine child support. These factors include: 

• Number of children
• Total number of overnights each parent has with the children
• Each parent’s income
• Cost of medical insurance
• Cost of daycare

Reaching the correct number takes more than a simple calculation.

Child Support Process

Luckily, Iowa law requires each parent in a divorce or custody proceeding to file affidavits of financial status, child support guideline worksheets, and supporting documentation. The supporting documentation includes tax returns, paystubs, recent account statements, and medical insurance costs. This ensures both parents have equal access to the same information when calculating proposed child support amounts.

Interestingly, the calculations between attorneys for each parent are sometimes slightly different. This is most often the case of using gross income rather than net income, categorizing a parent as a wage-earner rather than a business owner, or incorrect calculation of medical insurance costs. Once both parents file their child support guideline worksheets, the attorneys and parents can find the inconsistencies and come to a mutually agreeable number based on Iowa law.

Income Withholding Order

Once a court determines the appropriate amount of child support payable each month, the court enters what is called an income withholding order. This special order goes to the parent’s employer and is withheld from their paychecks. This safeguards the other parent from not receiving payment and creates documentation for the payor that he or she actually did pay child support.

Reaching the correct number for child support is very important. There is an entire chapter in the Iowa Court Rules dedicated to child support. There are many cases from the Iowa Court of Appeals and Iowa Supreme Court differentiating when the rules do and do not apply and when variances to child support apply. A lawyer with family law experience and knowledge regarding child support is key to reaching the magic number.