Fam. Code, § 17402 · Article 1. Support Obligations
Fam. Code, § 17402
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) In any case of separation or desertion of a parent or parents from a child or children that results in aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code being granted to that family, the noncustodial parent or parents shall be obligated to the county for an amount equal to the amount specified in an order for the support and maintenance of the family issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) The local child support agency shall take appropriate action pursuant to this section as provided in subdivision (l) of Section 17400. The local child support agency may establish liability for child support as provided in subdivision (a) when public assistance was provided by another county or by other counties.
(c) The amount of the obligation established for each parent with a liability under subdivision (a) shall be determined by using the appropriate child support guideline currently in effect and shall be computed as follows:
(1) If one parent remains as a custodial parent, the support shall be computed according to the guideline.
(2) If the parents reside together and neither father nor mother remains as a custodial parent, the guideline support shall be computed by combining the noncustodial parents’ incomes. The combined incomes shall be used as the high earner’s net monthly disposable income in the guideline formula. Income shall not be attributed to the caretaker or governmental agency. The amount of guideline support resulting shall be proportionately shared between the noncustodial parents based upon their net monthly disposable incomes.
(3) If the parents reside apart and neither father nor mother remains as a custodial parent, the guideline support shall be computed separately for each parent by treating each parent as a noncustodial parent. Income shall not be attributed to the caretaker or government agency.
(d) A parent shall pay the amount of support specified in the support order to the local child support agency.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 305, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2005.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=FAM§ionNum=17402.
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 14 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Fam. Code, § 17402. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Code of Civil Procedure
Family Code
- Fam. Code, § 150Printed as Section 17402
- Fam. Code, § 7121Printed as Sections 17400, 17402, 17404, and 17422
- Fam. Code, § 17402.1Printed as Section 17402
- Fam. Code, § 17404Printed as Section 17402
- Fam. Code, § 17410Printed as Section 17402 or 17404
- Fam. Code, § 17428Printed as Section 17400, 17402, 17404, or 17416
- Fam. Code, § 17430Printed as Section 17400, 17402, 17404, or 17404.1
- Fam. Code, § 17432Printed as Section 17400, 17402, 17404, or 17404.1
- Fam. Code, § 17523Printed as Section 17400 or 17402
- Fam. Code, § 17530Printed as Section 17400, 17402, or 17404
Welfare and Institutions Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.