When considering the terms of a child support agreement, courts typically look at the parent's income based on what is taxed by the IRS. But now, one state's Supreme Court has ruled that the entirety of a parent's income must be considered when establishing the terms of child support.

Child support issues affect not only the children but also the parents involved. Often, these payments are intended to help the parent with primary custody pay for things that the child needs. These things can include food, clothes, and other necessities.

As a result of the state's court's decision, child support considerations will now include military entitlements, bonuses and rental income. The decision ends a support dispute that involved a man in the National Guard and the mother of their daughter.

One area of contention between the father and mother was whether daycare costs should be considered. The father argued that the mother could provide that same care herself and not have to rely on a daycare provider. But because the mother could not prove the legitimacy of the daycare provider she used, the judge refused to make the father pay for those expenses.

The father voluntarily decided to increase the amount of monthly child support payments. Currently there is no set amount ordered by the court. Once that amount is determined, however, it will be retroactive and include reimbursement for daycare and future military entitlement. This is in accordance with the new ruling; all sources of income will be taken into account when figuring the man's monthly child support payment amount.

Though this decision currently only affects Rhode Island, other state's appellate courts have considered adopting the same approach when determining the amount of child support. In fact, many of those states have actually ruled that military allowance should be included.

Source: The Providence Journal online, "R.I. high court: When figuring child support, all finances are in play," Tracy Breton, 10 April 2011