Child Support Which Expenses are Included, Which Expenses are Not, Can I Know They go to my Child?



Posted: Wednesday, June 10, 2009

by Ed Brooks
Child-Custody-Forum.com

One of the common series of questions I see is about child support expenses, what is included, what is not, where the money goes, what is fair what is not. All things child support. No one likes to pay it and most who do think they pay too much. Of course when the shoe is on the other foot it is never enough there are often times issues trying to collect. So let's look under the hood. In basic terms child support is designed to help level the living standard between the parents. There are a large number of items that get factored into child support, but the two major components are:

  1. Income differential
  2. Percentage of time with the child
The court attempts to reward parents for spending time with the child. The more time you spend with your child the more the equation swings your way regardless of income. This means that if you had 90% of the timeshare and made twice what the other parent does, you might still get support. Conversely, if you had 10% of the timeshare and earned double the money you would owe the other parent far more than in the first example. If you had a 50% split of time then the parent with the larger income would owe some money to the lesser earning parent.

Of course you want to know what this has to do with included expenses. Basically, the law states that child support does not address a specific expense but addresses the issue of lifestyle of the child. This means that inevitably every member of the receiving household may benefit from the improved lifestyle. The expenses that are generally included are normal living expenses. That is, normal expenses may not typically be asked to be added on.

The major exception to this rule would be daycare. Daycare is typically spilt 50/50 between the parties. The primary parent normally has the right to choose the daycare provider but if the expenses include non-daycare items like travel to activities, housework and more, the non-primary parent can ask that a reasonable fee be assessed in lieu of actual expenses.

Other expenses not included in child support would be medical, dental, special needs, counseling, and tutoring. Each of these can be added by the court as reasonable expenses that need to be split by the parents.

So it is normal that child support covers all normal household expenses, but does not cover extra's like medical and dental, and finally that others in the household may benefit.

Ed Brooks knows firsthand how painful a High Conflict Child Custody battle can be. Ed has created a site where parents can get advice on how to handle all aspects of a high conflict Win Child Custody battle. If you want to read more about Child Support issues you can find it here.
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