Family Practice: Child Support
Family Code Sections 3900-4203 identify a duty of parental support.
- The father and mother of a minor child have an equal responsibility to support their child in the manner suitable to the child’s circumstances. Family Code Section 3900.
- A minor is defined as an individual who is under 18 years of age. Family Code Section 6500.
- The father and mother also have a duty to support a child after he or she turns 18, if the child is unmarried, is a full-time high school student, and is not self-supporting, until the child completes the twelfth grade or attains the age of 19 years, whichever occurs first. Family Code Section 3901(a).
- The father and mother have an equal responsibility to maintain, to the extent of their ability, a child of whatever age who is incapacitated from earning a living and without sufficient means. Family Code Section 3910(a).
- In any proceeding concerning the support of a minor child or a child for whom support is authorized under either Family Code Section 3901 or 3910, the court may order either or both parents to pay an amount necessary for the child’s support. Family Code Section 4001.
- A statewide uniform guideline is adopted at Family Code Sections 4050-4076 to ensure that California remains in compliance with the federal regulations for child support guidelines. The formula, also known as a child support calculator, for the statewide uniform guideline for determining child support is set forth under Family Code Section 4055.