For Child Support, One Global Test

The Superior Court recently addressed a child support issue of first impression – whether a court may deviate downward from the support guidelines based on the fact that the child lives in a “third world” country where the standard of living is much lower than that of the United States. In Nischal v. Nischal,879 A.2d 813 (Pa. Super. 2005), the appeals court rejected this argument, and held that it would be improper to apply a downward departure from the guidelines based upon a lower standard of living of the country where the child resides.

In Nischal,the mother and father were married and resided in India until the father moved to the United States in 2001. The mother remained in India and never came to the United States. The father originally came to the United States on “recreation,” but later began employment requiring him to stay in the country indefinitely and change his immigration status. After Sept. 11, 2001, the immigration procedures governing the father’s immigration status changed, prohibiting him from returning to India.