The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 15 : Domestic Relations

Chapter 011 : Annulment and Divorce

Subchapter 003A : Child Custody and Support

• § 661. Child support maintenance supplement

  (a) A party may request a child support maintenance supplement to be paid while a child support obligation arising out of an action for support exists. After considering the respective financial circumstances of the parties, including gross income, assets, liabilities, including tax liabilities, and the obligation to pay child support, the court shall order payment of a child support maintenance supplement to the obligee to correct any disparity in the financial circumstances of the parties if the court finds that the disparity has resulted or will result in a lower standard of living for the child than the child would have if living with the noncustodial parent.

  (b) Any sum awarded under this section shall be taken into consideration in making an order under section 752 of this title.

  (c) On motion of either parent, a person to whom a child support maintenance supplement has previously been granted, a person previously charged with paying a child support maintenance supplement, and upon a showing of a real, substantial, and unanticipated change of circumstances, the court may annul, vary, or modify a supplement order, whether or not the order is based on a stipulation or agreement. A real, substantial, unanticipated change of circumstances shall be deemed to exist if the proportion of income of the parties varies more than 15 percent from the time the order was issued, or if either parent’s gross income changes by more than 15 percent.

  (d) This section shall not apply to orders or modifications made prior to April 1, 1987. (Added 1985, No. 180 (Adj. Sess.), § 9, eff. April 1, 1987; amended 2003, No. 159 (Adj. Sess.), § 8.)