Where Texas Stands Among National Child Support Policy
In 1989, Texas legislators codified the Texas child support guidelines to provide a standard formula that was to be used to calculate child support payment amounts when parents live apart. The results of this guideline formula are presumed to be in the “best interest of the child.”
The Texas child support guidelines formula codified in 1989 has remained largely unchanged over the past 30+ years, and Texas now stands nearly alone on several key policies detailed in this post.
Several bills filed in the 88th session (2023) aim to make improvements to our child support guidelines, and one requires a study to completely change our model in several years. To make child-centered decisions about Texas child support policies, it’s critical that legislators zoom out to a national policy level to understand where Texas policy fits into broader best practices regarding what’s in the best interest of children when their parents live apart and the history of our current guidelines.
In this post, we’ll share how the current Texas child support guidelines fit into a national policy context to help guide legislators in taking appropriate action in the 88th legislative session to support Texas children whose parents live apart.
Texas Stands Alone in Dollars Collected & Distributed from Non-Custodial Parents
To set the stage for a discussion about national child support policy best practices, it’s important to put Texas’s child support collections volume in context among its larger and smaller state peers.
Texas has the largest child support program by collections and distributions in the nation, though we do not have the largest population. In 2020, Texas distributed 76% more child support dollars than California, though we have 26% fewer residents, and we distributed 200% more such dollars than Florida, though they have 35% fewer residents.
As you review this chart, keep in mind that all states except Texas & Mississippi formulaically adjust child support orders based on parenting time and/or both parents’ incomes in specific family situations.
This means that child support orders are adjusted in a pre-determined manner to reflect how each family is raising their children in two homes, most often using the total financial resources available to the child as well as time parents spend with the children.
In Texas, a parent who has never met their child is ordered to pay the same amount of child support as a parent who spends every other week with their child. You might expect these situations to have different child support obligation amounts, but in the Texas guidelines, they do not.
Who is Paying Child Support in Texas?
While there is no statutory basis for Texas’s gender-based outcomes, more than 9 out of every 10 Texas child support cases sees the father as the obligor (often called the non-custodial parent or NCP), with the mother as the obligee (often called the custodial parent or CP) receiving child support. In 2021, there were 133,387 female non-custodial parents paying child support and 1,343,668 male non-custodial parents.
Texas obligors pay a flat percentage of their monthly net resources to the other parent, regardless of how much the other parent earns or how much time they spend with their child.
As the data below from the OAG shows, child support outcomes are nearly pre-determined in Texas. Despite the reality that every family situation is unique, the Texas child support guidelines seem to produce primarily one result.
Do Texas Parents in the Child Support Program Have Legal Support During Their Case?
Cases involving possession & access (custody) and child support in Texas are handled in two different court systems (data via the Texas Office of Court Administration):
In 2020, about 48% of cases were handled in Texas county and district courts, which are staffed by elected judges.
In 2020, about 52% of cases were handled in IV-D administrative courts, which are managed by the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and staffed with appointed associate judges.
Issues related to legal decision-making and parenting time (possession and access) are determined in both of these courts, and both issues must be resolved at the same time in Texas, which is unique in the national context.
Decisions made in these judicial and administrative courtrooms have lifelong implications for children and their families, with the power to create or assuage childhood trauma associated with separation, divorce, or loss of access to a loved one, which has scientifically proven lifetime consequences through the Adverse Childhood Experiences study.
Given that Texas law currently presumes it’s best for children to lose some or most access to one parent through a Standard Possession Order (Family Code, § 153.252 and 153.317)—which means the child ALSO loses the emotional and financial support of the minimized parent’s family, friends, and community as a result—it’s vital that parents have legal support to navigate their case and ensure the results are in the best interest of their children.
So how many parents have an attorney to help navigate that Texas law presumes children should lose some or most access to one parent and that the minimized parent should pay child support per decades-outdated guidelines?
Unfortunately, Texas does not track attorney representation of the parents in all cases, so the data is limited to the IV-D courts, where more than half of all such Texas cases are resolved.
The concerning reality is that nearly ALL parents in Texas IV-D courts, which resolve over 50% of cases involving child support and parenting time, do NOT have any legal representation, according to the OAG.
The IV-D employees present cannot give advice to parents. Attorneys that represent the State of Texas are present in every case, creating a significant imbalance of power that pro se parents may find impossible to overcome.
Any tailoring of the current child support guidelines to specific family situations, which may include parents sharing equal parenting time, parents with child care costs, parents with significant income imbalances, and more, are entirely up to what the judge decides to do, unlike most other states. When you add in that parents primarily do not have legal help present and do not necessarily know their rights, nor how a hearing should be run, or how to ensure their child is at the center of every decision, the best interest of Texas children is left up to a completely discretionary standard, with inconsistent outcomes across the state and NO tracking system to ensure we’re meeting the needs of Texas children.
How Have the Texas Child Support Guidelines Aged Without Meaningful Updates Since 1989?
Texas has the unique distinction of being one of only TWO remaining states with child support guidelines that lack formulaic adjustments for both parents’ incomes or time spent parenting their children in any family situation.
Judges in Texas can deviate from the current guidelines codified in 1989, but Texas does not define the goal of child support payments made from one parent to another—only that they should be “equitable” (Family Code, § 154.121)—providing no guidance to judges on how deviations should be made, nor guidance to families on what child support payments are meant to cover.
Further, federal law requires that deviations be “limited,” restricting Texas judges’ use of this option to customize child support amounts for each unique family situation.
The current Texas guideline formula only considers what the obligor, who is typically the minimized parent and almost always the father in Texas, earns. The current Texas guidelines do not formulaically consider the other parent’s financial resources OR how much time each parent spends with the child.
As the map below shows, Texas’s guidelines now stand almost alone with the lack of formulaic adjustments for parents’ total resources or time spent with children in any family situation.
What is Considered Best Practice Nationally for Formulaically Adjusting Child Support Orders?
The policy that child support amounts should consistently reflect the parents’ total resources and engagement of parents in raising the child is not novel at a national level.
In fact, Texas was given federal recommendations in 1987 that our first set of codified guidelines should include both of these elements. Texas legislators ignored this at the time and in the three decades since.
The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement published a 1987 report that included their recommendations to all US states from the National Advisory Panel on Child Support Guidelines. These recommendations were meant to support states in meeting the 1989 federal deadline to form presumptive guidelines that would be considered in the best interest of the child when applied as written.
Let’s review what Texas was told in 1987, what Texas implemented in 1989, and where Texas stands in 2023 after (all emphasis added):
Federal Policy Recommendation Regarding What Guideline Model to Use:
Federal Policy Recommendations on Formulaically Considering Both Parents’ Incomes:
Federal Policy Recommendations on Formulaically Adjusting Child Support Based on Parenting Time:
Federal Policy Recommendations on Sharing Health Insurance Costs Between Parents:
Federal Recommendations for Sharing in Childcare Costs & Federal Tax Benefits:
In summary, Texas started off far behind in 1989 by ignoring federal policy recommendations designed to support states in creating standard child support guidelines and has fallen even further behind over the past 30+ years as nearly all states have incrementally modernized their guidelines to reflect child-centered policies that encourage the involvement of both parents in their child’s upbringing.
What do Texas Attorneys & Judges Think About Federally Recommended Formulaic Child Support Adjustments for Parenting Time?
In addition to managing the Texas child support program, the OAG is required to review and provide recommendations regarding the Texas child support guidelines every four years (Family Code, § 111.001 (a)).
In the most recent review cycle in 2021, the OAG polled Texas attorneys and judges regarding the need for a formula to adjust child support if parenting time differs from roughly 70/30 (every other weekend, one dinner per week, and half of vacations with the non-custodial parent—called the Standard Possession Order in Texas).
The results indicate that an overwhelming majority (70%) of Texas attorneys and judges agree that the Texas child support guidelines should contain a formula to adjust for parenting time.
Formulaic child support adjustments for parenting time were federally recommended to Texas in 1987, were adopted by most states then, or have been adopted since, and Texas judges and attorneys agree that the Texas guidelines should change to include such a policy.
What Do Texas Residents Think About Federally Recommended Parenting Time Adjustments & Considering Both Parents’ Incomes?
NPO Texas surveyed Texas residents about child support policy in July 2023 with the help of Researchscape International, an independent public polling firm.
The results indicate that nearly all Texas residents believe that our child support guidelines should automatically consider both parents’ incomes and parenting time.
What Does the Texas OAG Think About Federally Recommended Parenting Time Adjustments?
Per the 2021 Quadrennial Review of the Texas Child Support Guidelines (emphasis added):
“Texas’ adoption of a formulaic method for adjusting orders due to parenting time issues could result in fewer deviations.”
——
“Deviations from the Texas child support guideline process could be further reduced if a formulaic approach was included in statute to address other common scenarios that occur when calculating child support, including parenting time adjustments and allocation of work-related childcare expenses. Adoption of formulaic methods to handle these common situations could make child support awards more consistent and predictable.”
——
“Because the number of overnight visits under a standard possession order has expanded over time, it may become necessary to reexamine parenting time in Texas and how the increase in parenting time impacts the Texas child support guidelines [...] to ensure that child support in Texas is ordered in appropriate amounts […].”
If the OAG, Texas Judges, Texas Attorneys, and Texas Residents Agree with Some or All 1987 Federal Policy Recommendations, Why is Texas Still So Far Behind 30 Years Later?
Answering this requires we take a step back and review how our child support guidelines are updated, who is responsible for ensuring our policies stay up to date, and what challenges we face in ensuring that children are the only consideration when improving our child support guidelines.
We believe that there are several critical and addressable reasons why the Texas child support guidelines have not been substantially updated in over thirty years:
These are just a few of the factors that have made it difficult to iteratively improve the Texas child support guidelines. Lawmakers have the opportunity to address all of this by advancing key child-centered policy recommendations in the 88th session, but to get there it’s critical that we all acknowledge the special situation that Texas faces due to our history and child support program management and improvement processes.
Where Do We Go From Here in Texas?
There are several pending child support bills in the 88th session that aim to modernize parts of the Texas child support guidelines. Overall, we are energized to see several child support bills in the 88th session, but we have trouble supporting an expansion of 30-year-old guidelines before making key modernizations to include parenting time adjustments and the consideration of both parents’ incomes in the formula.
Here’s a summary of current bills, and this post will be updated as the session progresses.
HB 1842 (Cook) - Child Support Public Policy Statement
In HB 1842, Representative Cook proposes a public policy statement for the state of Texas with regard to child support. Today, Texas has no guiding statement of this nature in the Family Code.
HBs 604, 532, 1732 & SB 590 (Various) - Child Support from Conception
Several Representatives and Senator Hughes have introduced legislation that would order retroactive child support from the date of conception in certain situations.
Read HB 604 (Shaheen) here.
Read HB 532 (Patterson) here.
Read HB 1734 (Leach) here.
Read SB 590 (Hughes) here.
HB 2581 (Dutton) - Allocation of Child Care Expenses
In this bill, Representative Dutton has introduced language that would require the court to allocate childcare expenses incurred by a parent between both parents “according to the parties' circumstances” when that care is for the purpose of employment or education in anticipation of gainful employment.
HB 2582 (Dutton) - Requiring a Study of Income Shares
In this bill, Representative Dutton is proposing a requirement that the Texas Attorney General study the income shares child support model for Texas and propose legislation for the 89th session in 2025.
HB 2583 (Dutton) - Raising the Net Resources Cap
In this bill, Representative Dutton aims to raise the cap of the net resources that are used to calculate child support obligations in Texas to $30,000 per month.