Figure 4.3 Median Monthly Child Support Award Amount by Type of Custody Arrangement and Year of Judgment

Figure 4.3 presents the relationship between monthly child support award amount and type of custody arrangement for all cases and separately by year of judgement from 1998 through 2001. Across all years, the pattern of findings indicated that the median support award amount was highest in cases in which sole custody was awarded to the mother ($450) and lowest in cases when the father had sole custody ($269). Since mothers tend to have lower incomes than fathers, this pattern is to be expected. The median monthly child support amounts for cases of shared and split custody fell between the two sole custody extremes, and were $400 for shared custody and $300 for split custody.