When people in West Virginia are getting divorced and have children, sometimes people wonder whether the child support amount paid can actually be agreed upon between spouses splitting or does the court decide that. Now, judges could go along with agreements with regards to child support, but it’s really going to vary from judge to judge as to whether that’s acceptable. Often in West Virginia, it’s very customary in family court, even when there is some sort of agreement, that the court still applies the child support formula. The judge takes into account the parenting plan along with both spouse’s incomes. After the judge does that, they may ask if the parents still want to go with this agreed amount when it comes to child support. The agreement may be where the child support amount is higher than what it should be or even a lower child support amount based on an application of the child support formula.
However, judges sometimes do not necessarily go along with an agreement when it comes to child support. They look at it as though the money is not one person’s money or the other person’s money. It’s viewed as the child’s money. Sometimes this causes the judge to choose not to deviate from what the child support is going to be based on the child support formula. The courts are much more likely to accept the agreement spouses made together if they agreed to a higher amount of child support compared to the formula as opposed to a much lower child support amount.
For example, if the formula for child support amount is going to be 600, the court will generally allow the agreed child support amount to be a greater amount of child support say in the amount of $800 a month. The judge is most likely going to be a little less inclined if there’s going to be an agreement of say $300 a month. Whether an agreement of a child support amount is made or not, the judge is still going to run the formula and then let the people choose as to whether to go along with that.
