ArrearsMaster® Updated for Consolidated Judgments

Work is underway to include automatic calculation of Consolidated Judgments in ArrearsMaster®. The consolidated judgment concept (whether known by that name or not) is available in many states, and simply refers to the reduction to a single judgment of all accrued support arrears and interest through a certain date. The new consolidated judgment then continues to accrue interest until finally paid. It represents the only method of collecting a type of “quasi-compound interest” (interest on interest) in those states which mandate the application of simple interest rates to support arrears. Each consolidated judgment includes the remaining unpaid balance on any prior consolidated judgments.

In Texas, the calculation of support arrears, interest and consolidated judgment balances is made more complex because payments in excess of the current monthly support obligation are applied in a specific order (an order that was changed for payments received after 2010).

Inclusion of a new consolidated judgment category allows the automatic calculation of arrears, interest and consolidated judgment balances regardless of when the payment was received.

Child Support Tools AutoSave Feature

We’ve added AutoSave to all of our programs. Initially, when you start a new case, AutoSave is available, but turned off.  To turn AutoSave on, click Options/AutoSave/On.

Specify how frequently you want your work to be saved. The idea is to protect your work from loss due to a power outage, inadvertence or computer mishap, so start with a fairly short interval — say 3 minutes. You won’t notice any interruption in your work, and you’ll never be more than 3 minutes away from your latest changes.

Herb Walton Bench Bar Conference

The Johnson County, Kansas, Bar Association’s annual bench/bar conference will be held at the Ritz-Carlton convention center in Overland Park, Kansas, on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. As a part of the presentations, Brad Short will present the “nuts and bolts” of the new Administrative Order 260, which changes the Kansas Child Support Guidelines for the first time since 2008.  Information will also be available about www.childsupporttools.com, the firm’s new single case, one family, low cost, online child support calculator. Discount pricing will be available during the Conference on Bradley Software’s family law practice software.

Wyandotte County CLE on new Child Support Guidelines

The Wyandotte County District Court Trustee’s office is planning a CLE seminar for the noon hour on Friday, March 2, 2012, at the downtown Kansas City, Kansas Public Library. Bradley Software is sponsoring the distribution of a copy of the new Guidelines (Administrative Order 260) for each registrant. The firm will also offer discounts to new subscribers for its Kansas Family Law Suite of programs, which includes the updated Kansas Child Support Calculator, the Bradley Parenting Time Calculator®, and ArrearsMaster®. A drawing will be held for a free subscription for one lucky registrant. Information will also be available about the firm’s new single case, one family, low cost, online child support calculator, www.childsupporttools.com.

Bradley Software Speaking @ Washburn Law School

On January 31, 2012, our founder, Brad Short (Short, Borth & Thilges, LLC) has been invited to present his annual lecture to the family law students of Professor Linda H. Elrod on the important role of ethics in the successful practice of family law, as well as his observations on the new Child Support Guidelines. Mr. Short will also field questions on, and demonstrate, the Bradley Software Family Suite of software for family law practitioners.  Professor Elrod, herself a long-time member of the Kansas Supreme Court Child Support Advisory Committee, is Washburn Law School’s Richard S. Righter Distinguished Professor of Law, and the author of Kansas Family Law and Practice. Mr. Short is a co-author of the Kansas Bar Association’s multi-volume family law treatise, Practitioner’s Guide to Kansas Family Law.

ArrearsMaster® Adopted by State of Mississippi Support Enforcement.

In September, the State of Mississippi Office of Child Support Enforcement installed multiple copies of our ArrearsMaster® software for ease of use in calculating interest on child support arrears.

New Kansas Child Support Guidelines for 2012

Flash: On December 28, 2011, the Kansas Supreme Court approved Administrative Order 260, making new child support guidelines effective on April 1, 2012.

The new Guidelines change the Equal Parenting Time formula, and abolish the mandatory 20% parenting time adjustment for equal time sharing without expense sharing (substituting a surcharge of 13% to18% for the non-expense sharing equal time parent). The new Guidelines also implement new support schedules (which generally increase support levels), and reject both termination of employment for misconduct and incarceration as grounds for modification of child support.

In other changes, the new Guidelines create a standard for the apportionment of birth expenses (setting a discretionary cap of 5% of a parent’s gross annual income); add “extraordinary expenses” like private school, premier sports, and instruction in the arts as “special needs” expenses which can be apportioned between the parents as additional child support.

On the enforcement side, the new Guidelines empower the Court to assess financial penalties against a parent who fails to voluntarily disclose a material change in financial circumstances (including income, work-related child care costs, and health insurance premiums).

Bradley Software customers who have subscribed to our 2012 Kansas Family Law Suite (which includes our Kansas Child Support Calculator) will receive updated software fully complying with the new Administrative order later this spring at no cost.