CHILD SUPPORT WHEN CUSTODY IS SHARED

Alliger-Bograd v Bograd, 2020 NY Slip Op 01315, Decided on February 26, 2020, Appellate Division, Second Department:

"The defendant contends that the Supreme Court erred in determining the amount of his child support obligation based on the Child Support Standards Act (hereinafter CSSA) guidelines, as the parties have shared custody of the children, and that the parties should split all child support obligations evenly. The CSSA "sets forth a formula for calculating child support by applying a designated statutory percentage, based upon the number of children to be supported, to combined parental income up to a particular ceiling" (Matter of Murray v Murray, 164 AD3d 1451, 1453 [internal quotation marks omitted]). "Where the combined parental income exceeds that ceiling, the court, in fixing the basic child support obligation on income over the ceiling, has the discretion to apply the factors set forth in Domestic Relations Law § 240(1-b)(f), or to apply the statutory percentages, or to apply both" (Candea v Candea, 173 AD3d at 664; see Domestic Relations Law § 240[1-b][c][3]; Matter of Cassano v Cassano, 85 NY2d 649, 655). In Bast v Rossoff (91 NY2d 723, 728), the Court of Appeals held that the CSSA was applicable to shared custody arrangements. The CSSA is also applicable to situations where each party has equal custodial time with the children (see Baraby v Baraby, 250 AD2d 201, 204). In cases where custody is shared equally, the parent having the greater share of the support obligation after applying the statutory formula is identified as the "noncustodial" parent for the purposes of support (see id. at 204). However, if the statutory formula "yields a result that is unjust or inappropriate," the court "can resort to the paragraph (f)' factors and order payment of an amount that is just and appropriate" (Bast v Rossoff, 91 NY2d at 729, citing Domestic Relations Law § 240[1-b][f], [g]; see Baraby v Baraby, 250 AD2d at 204). Here, the court appropriately applied the CSSA to determine the award of child support, and we find no basis to disturb the court's determination."