Determining child support can be one of the most stressful parts of a divorce or separation. Even in amicable divorces, there’s a lot of tension and confusion involved when working out custody and child support payments.
Child support can be complicated, but we can walk you through it. You don’t have to figure it all out on your own.
Keep reading to learn about custody, child support, and how it’s all worked out in court so you can better prepare yourself.
What Is Child Support?
Child support is money that is contributed by a non-custodial (or partially-custodial) parent in order to support their child when they’re in the other parent’s care.
Contrary to popular belief, this money is only meant to be used for the care and upkeep of the child, not for the care and upkeep of the other parent (unlike alimony). While there is some gray area here, the funds are for the child alone.
The idea of child support is that the child will maintain the same quality of life that they had before the parents split up.
Who Pays Child Support?
When it comes to child support payments there are a few different ways that things can happen.
In a situation where 1 parent has total custody of the child, the other parent will most likely have to pay child support. If one parent has visitation and the other has primary custody, this will likely have the same result.
If parents have split custody, it gets a bit more complicated.
Because the idea is to maintain the quality of life for the child, both parents should have equal resources and capabilities for childcare.
When one parent spent the marriage as the breadwinner and the other spent it as a homemaker, the breadwinner may still have to pay child support from the time of the divorce until the time when child support ends.
If both parents have equal in-person responsibilities regarding the child and they have relatively equal financial standing, it’s possible that neither parent will have to pay child support.
You can determine child support amounts based on your custodial and financial situation with several helpful formulas and calculators online.
What If Child Support Isn’t Paid?
If the non-custodial parent isn’t paying the child support, they are still entitled to see their child as the court had ordered. this means that you must still take your child to visitations. It’s in the best interest of the child to maintain contact with both parents so long as it is safe to do so.
You can, however, file a report with the court to force the parent to pay child support. If child support needs to be adjusted because of an inability to pay, this should also be done through the court.
Remember: Child Support Is for the Child
Divorces can be messy and it’s easy to get caught up in the animosity of everything and want to hurt your former spouse by not paying child support. Doing that, however, only hurts yourself and the child.
If everyone works together, the child support process can be simple and the family can operate separately but peacefully.
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