Calculating Child Support for Military Parents

Austin, Texas Family Law Attorney Jillian French

Video Transcript:

Rob Rosenthal:

How is child support calculated for military parents? Let's ask Austin lawyer Jillian French for an Ask The Lawyer's Quick Question.

Jillian French: 

The child support in Texas is calculated based on available resources. A lot of people confuse that with the term income, and it's not just income, it's available resources. The important difference when it comes to military service members, active duty Military service members is that they have what's called a Leave and Earnings Statement, and that's often referred to as an LES. On the LES, it will show their monthly base pay, but it will also show their BAH, which is their housing allowance, which is not taxed, as well as their BAS, which is an allowance they get for food, things like that, also not taxed. So when calculating child support, a lot of people think that only the base pay counts for that calculation, and that's just not correct. You would want to include the BAH and BAS as un-taxed incomes.

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