Report Title:

Child Support; Blended Family Consideration

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, with the high rate of divorce, the structure of a family has been considerably changed, especially when there are children involved; and

WHEREAS, these divorced parents often remarry, and bring their children into another cognate family; and

WHEREAS, these new families, often referred to as blended families, typically require financial support from the non-custodial parent; and

WHEREAS, the 1998 amended child support guidelines removed the credit for "other support obligations" from the child support work sheet; and

WHEREAS, the new guidelines specifically state on the worksheet that a parent is only allowed to list the number of children that are involved in the case, and specifically prohibits all other children that are not involved in the case; and

WHEREAS, although these new guidelines prohibit other support obligations from the work sheet calculations, the court allows a parent to argue that a deviation from the child support calculations is warranted under exceptional circumstances; and

WHEREAS, this credit is not automatic and has to be argued with an oral finding of fact, later reduced to a written finding of fact, thus increasing attorney fees or being completely over looked by a per se party; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Family Court is requested to consider all support obligations when determining child support payments; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that when the child support guidelines are next reviewed in 2002 that the Family Court consider an amendment which will clearly include in the child support work sheet a consideration for all other support obligations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Judiciary, Family Court Division and the Child Support Enforcement Agency Division of the Department of the Attorney General.