Dear Mr. Slusaw:
The Domestic Relations Procedural Rules Committee of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania receives questions, suggestions and complaints from attorneys,
legislators, judges, organizations and the public. As counsel to the committee,
I try to respond to inquiries and address complaints, but we do not keep a log
of such correspondence. If a suggestion or complaint is directed to a rule or
rules, as opposed to being case-specific or a general complaint, the
correspondence is circulated to committee members who assess whether or not a
proposed recommendation to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is warranted.
By way of background, the committee is composed of judges, lawyers and a
court administrator from across the commonwealth who are appointed to serve,
without compensation, by the Supreme Court. No single justice oversees the
committee. Recommendations are submitted to the court through the Chief Justice
of Pennsylvania, The Honorable Ralph J. Cappy. The committee's only role is to
advise the court regarding the rules of civil procedure governing family law
matters such as divorce, support, paternity, custody and protection from abuse.
The committee makes recommendations to the court and the court can adopt, amend
or reject the committee's proposals.
With respect to the constitutional issue, the legislature, through the
support statute, directed the Supreme Court to establish statewide support
guidelines through general rule. Federal law requires that all states have
statewide child support guidelines. Pennsylvania is one of thirty-three states
that bases its guidelines on the income shares model. The original income shares
model was developed under funding from the U.S. Office of Child Support
Enforcement and administered by the National Center for State Courts. The
National Child Support Guidelines Advisory Board recommended the income shares
model for state support guidelines. The basic support schedule in Pennsylvania's
guidelines is based upon the work of Dr. David M. Betson, Professor of
Economics, University of Notre Dame. The data he uses are derived from
child-rearing expenditures as a proportion of household consumption as reported
in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Dr. Betson
applies various economic models to the raw data on actual consumer expenditures.
The support guidelines create a rebuttable presumption that the amount of
support calculated under the guidelines is the proper amount. However, because
no set of rules is going to fit each and every circumstance, the guidelines also
give the courts discretion to deviate from the guideline amount of support when
warranted by the evidence. In addition, support law comprises not only rules
promulgated by the Supreme Court (the guidelines), but also statutes enacted by
the legislature and signed by the governor, as well as court decisions known as
case law. All must be applied in a support case.
State and federal laws require that the guidelines be reviewed at least once
every four years. The committee just finished such a review and has published
proposed amendments for public comment. One of the proposals would provide a
reduction in the amount of support based upon the obligor's time with the
children. Rather than the current 40% threshold, the proposal provides that
reductions begin when the obligor has the children four days per year or more.
If you would like to review the proposal and submit comments, it is available on
line at www.pabulletin.com. It is in Volume 33, No. 50, published on December
13, 2003. Comments can be submitted to the committee through me at the address
above.
I hope that this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
Patricia A. Miles Counsel
