The court must follow the Child Support Standards Act (the “CSSA”). In doing so, it will apply a legally determined percentage to the non-custodial parent’s income. The applicable percentage is determined by the number of children in the family:

1 child 17%, 2 children 25%, 3 children 29%, 4 children 31%, 5+ children 33%

To calculate the statutory child support that will be ordered, these percentages are applied to the payer's "adjusted gross income" - a number somewhere between the gross and the net, found be deducting the medicare tax, social security tax, local income tax and prior court-ordered child support figures from the gross.

When family income is over $130,000, the court is free to exercise greater discretion in determining what the appropriate level of support should be, based upon the family’s lifestyle, the income available to the children and the needs of the children.

Deviation from the CSSA is very rarely permitted, and only in cases where a clearly stated, legally sufficient reason is presented to the court and the court sees that reason as satisfactory.