How Does a Second Family Change Child Support Obligations? A Comparative Analysis of 4 Countries

• In Event: Policies Affecting Separated Families Around the World

Abstract

The rise in union dissolution (Kalmijn & Leopold, 2021; Raley & Sweeney, 2020; Ruiz-Vallejo & Solsona i Pairo, 2021) has increased the likelihood of repartnering (Profamilia, 2016; Raley & Sweeney, 2020), with some new partners having new children, and these children sharing their parents’ time and money with step-siblings and/or half-siblings (Cancian et al., 2011; Cuesta & Mogollon Plazas, forthcoming; Manning et al., 2014; Thomson, 2014). This growing family complexity creates unique challenges for policies attempting to improve the economic well-being of single-parent families, especially child support policy. Governments have policies on how much each parent should contribute to their children’s expenditures following union dissolution (Cuesta et al., 2023; Hakovirta et al., 2022), but in some countries these policies provide little to no guidance around changes in child support orders when separated parents repartner or have children with their new partners. This raises the issue of whether partners and children are treated equally across partnerships and has implications for social policy and research.    

In this study we examine how child support obligations change when second families are formed. We examine this issue in Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, and Wisconsin and California in the United States (US), four countries with different levels of family complexity and approaches to child support policy that make them notable for comparison. We aim to answer two research questions: 1) How do child support orders change when separated parents have a new partner? And 2) How do child support orders change when separated parents have a child with their new partner? We use data obtained through extensive interviews with judicial and social service personnel in Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay and a child support expert in the US. We present child support amounts expected in three scenarios for three hypothetical families with different income levels (i.e., low, moderate, and high): 1) mother has a new partner, 2) father has a new partner, and 3) father has a new nonresident child. We translate amounts from each country’s currency into 2022 U.S. dollars using Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs).

Our preliminary results show similarities and differences across countries in terms of their child support policy approach to second families. In all countries but the US/California child support orders remain the same when either parent has a new partner. In the US/California, child support orders change in response to changes in parents’ marital status because income taxes differ and net income after taxes is used to calculate the obligation. Thus, whether orders or decrease depends on the income of the new partner and whether it is the mother or the father who remarries. However, a new nonresident child is generally owed less than the original nonresident child in all countries and across income levels.

This inequality in how children are treated depending on the family ordering raises issues of equity, but the policy solutions to this dilemma are not clear. Implications for child support policy and for future research on the economic well-being of single-parent families are discussed.

Authors

• Laura Cuesta, Rutgers University
  Presenting Author

• Marisa Bucheli, Universidad de la Republica
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Daniel R. Meyer
  Non-Presenting Co-Author