Setting Child Support Without Hiring Lawyers in New Mexico

Attorney Answer

Yes — you can get a support amount set without hiring lawyers, but not entirely without a court. The number itself comes out of a worksheet you two can run tonight from your tax returns; making it enforceable still takes a judge or a hearing officer.

The number comes from NMSA 1978 § 40-4-11.1. In any action to establish or modify support, the guidelines and the department's basic child support schedule apply and create a rebuttable presumption as to the amount, and any deviation must be explained in a written statement of reasons. Worksheet A applies to a basic visitation arrangement and Worksheet B to shared responsibility. Each computes the obligation from both parents' gross monthly income and each parent's share of the combined income, then adds health and dental insurance premiums, work-related child care, and additional expenses. This is precisely the calculation two cooperating parents can do themselves from their returns and pay stubs.

If you want someone else to handle it, the agency is described in NMSA 1978 § 27-2-27. That section designates the human services authority, through its child support enforcement division, as New Mexico's single state agency for Title IV-D support enforcement, with power to establish paternity, to "establish an order of support," to enforce existing orders as the real party in interest, and — the provision that answers your question — to "provide services to non-AID families with dependent children in the establishment and enforcement of paternity and child support obligations," for which it may charge federally permitted fees. You do not need to be on public assistance to use it.

Two cautions come from the statute itself, and you should hear them before you apply. Under § 27-2-27(B) through (D), the division's attorneys represent only the agency. No attorney-client relationship is formed with you, and the agency is required to tell you so when you apply. Someone asking for "a third party to determine" support could easily assume otherwise.

Also correct one part of the premise: even with the division involved, the order still runs through the court or a child support hearing officer. Neither the division nor a private mediator can simply issue a binding support amount on its own. What their involvement does is remove the need for either of you to hire a lawyer.

What you can do

1. Each of you pull last year's tax return and the last two or three months of pay stubs, and compute your gross monthly income. 2. Get the current Worksheet A and Worksheet B and the basic child support schedule referenced in NMSA 1978 § 40-4-11.1, and use the one that matches how much time the children actually spend with each of you. 3. Add the additional figures the statute calls for: health and dental insurance premiums for the children, work-related child care, and any additional expenses you both agree on. 4. If the worksheet number works for both of you, put it in a stipulated order and submit it to the court in the county where the case belongs. Agreement plus a guideline number is the fastest path there is. 5. If your agreed number differs from the guideline, write out why. Under NMSA 1978 § 40-4-11.1 the guideline amount is a rebuttable presumption, and a deviation requires a written statement of reasons — without one, the court may not approve it. 6. If you would rather not do the paperwork, apply for services with the child support enforcement division under NMSA 1978 § 27-2-27, and understand going in that its attorneys are not yours. 7. If you want a neutral to help you reach agreement, a private mediator is fine — but budget for the fact that the result still has to be entered as a court order.