Need For Standardized Child Support Calculator

Divorce is a messy business. A relationship is like an organism, growing and requiring constant care. And divorce pretty much kills it. Possessions are divided between partners. But since a child can’t be divided, so one parent takes him while the other contributes through paychecks. And for calculating one’s liability, a system has been devised. Internet offers a lot of such free softwares that are called child support calculators. They give a rough idea as to calculate the liability towards the child, monetarily speaking.In the United States, different states have different child support calculators for liability and they are freely available. This gives a rough base idea. Rest is always case dependent. But the two legal systems - US and Indian - are not same even though the core content may be similar.In USA the entire income is well documented and shown in tax returns which is not always true in India more particularly in joint business families; as also in case of persons having several sources of income including cash incomes. There are Supreme Court judgments as also text books which provide complete guidance about the other partner’s liability.In majority of the cases, in India, the mother is favored for physical custody of the child, but under special circumstances, like if the mother has to work in nights or is in pursuit of education, then the father may be granted the physical custody of the child. Also, periodic evaluations of the parenting plans can be made. This is important because so many factors can be modified or altered over a short period following the divorce, such as change in employment, residence, or marital status.The primary standard that the court uses to determine a custody case is always, "what is in the best interests of the child." The court has to determine many factors when it makes this decision.Some of the factors that are considered when the court makes a custody determination are: (1) emotional and physical environment(2) the personal safety of the child(3) moral atmosphere of the household(4) the mental and physical health of the parents(5) the age of the children(6) the age of the children(7) preference of the child(8) the prior behavior of the parents, including any history of abuse (9) the ability of each parent to care for the child (10) the importance of religious upbringing within the family.And it is on the basis of these standards that the custody payment is also reached to. Per se, divorce is not so very common in India that calculators for child support are developed and hence they still are ad hoc. However, the need for such a standardized  child support calculator  has arisen with rising divorce cases and hence soon such a calculator will also be evolved. So far, the calculations are case based or mutually agreed upon.