The Iowa Supreme Court has issued amended Child Support Guidelines effective November 1, 2004. The amendments and the review committee's report are available on the Iowa Supreme Court's website.
The most significant changes are:
1. An increase in the upper income amounts encompassed by the Guidelines to $10,000/month for each parent, up from $6,000/month.
2. A 10% reduction to each of the Extraordinary Visitation credits, thereby reducing the reductions to 15%-20%-25% respectively.
3. Addition of express provisions requiring the use of the "offset" method when calculating child support for joint and split/divided physical care cases.
The changes are significant and would appear in many cases to translate into significant changes in the amount of child support that could be owed. Under Iowa law, a modification of support may be warranted when the amount of support owed under the new guidelines differs upwards or downwards by at least 10% from the amount currently ordered.
