Supreme Court sets guidelines in quantifying child support

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has come up with guidelines in computing the amount of child support in cases where there is no written agreement or where adjustments are needed.

The Guidelines on Fixing of Child Support, approved by the high court en banc on Nov. 6, complements the related rules under the Family Code of the Philippines and administrative orders concerning the recognition of foreign decisions on providing support for children.

The Supreme Court, however, has yet to release a copy of the approved guidelines.

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The creation of the guidelines was triggered by concerns on the varying ways of determining the formula and the amount of child support, the high tribunal said in a statement.

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“While preserving the discretion of members of the Bench in arriving at the amount of child support, the guidelines seek to provide judges with a uniform, objective, and evidence-based approach towards the promotion of the best interests of the child,” it noted.

READ: CHR: Passage of bill ensuring child support will foster accountability

Establishing a uniform formula would streamline the adjudication process of judges when there is no written or valid agreement or where circumstances among parties and the child require a recomputation of the amount of support to be provided.

The new Supreme Court guidelines also touched on the adults who are mandated to provide support and basic needs of the child aside from the parents and their financial capacity.

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“Recognizing that child-rearing responsibilities are not limited to parents and are often shared among several individuals, the guidelines also identify the persons entitled to receive support on behalf of the child including a scenario where multiple recipients are entitled to receive the support,” the high court said.

Time allotted for child care and supervision is also quantified to ensure that financial obligation as well as level of care are equally given to a child. /ms