The Arizona Child Support Guidelines changed effective June 1, 2011 for all cases decided on or after that date. The information in this post comes from the Office of Court Services at the Arizona Supreme Court.
The link to the updated guidelines and schedule can be found at http://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw.
There is an Administrative Order Administrative Order 2011-46 that added some technical changes.
The recent revisions are found in guideline sections 8 and 27:
Changes to Section 8 – Determining the Basic Child Support Obligations. These changes clarify what to do when a parent’s income falls exactly between two ranges on the Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations.
Changes to Section 27 – Federal and State Tax Exemption for Dependent Children. These changes add some language which is required by the federal tax code on the issue of dependency exemptions for tax filing purposes. If the parties don’t agree how the exemptions are to be divided, the court may enter an order allowing each parent to claim those exemptions proportionate to adjusted gross income— similar to the division of non-insured medical expenses. Reference to IRS Form 8332 (Release/Revocation of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent) was also added.
That form and instructions are available at: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8332.pdf.
The Supreme Court’s new web-based child support calculator will be available starting on June 1, 2011, at: http://www.azcourts.gov/familylaw/2011ChildSupport Calculator.aspx along with other links to child support-related resources. [NOTE: Annette tried this link on June 8 and it didn’t yet work; but because this is the link advertised by the Supreme Court, I’m leaving it up here with the hopes it becomes operational in the next few days.]
Updated child support-related court forms that include the federal tax code requirements language are available at: http://azcourts.gov/selfservicecenter/SelfServiceForms.aspx
Thank you to the Arizona Supreme Court and its Office of Court Services for this information and helpful links.
