Child Support. We’ve all heard the phrase, but what does it really mean? What does it include?
In a nutshell, child support obligations are designed to serve as the non-custodial parent’s share of the child’s food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and extracurricular activities. Some parents have an agreement to pay extracurricular activities in addition to child support.
There’s also an “add-on” component to child support, which is paid in addition to the basic support amounts. Add-ons include unreimbursed medical costs, such as co-pays, and private school expenses.
Generally, the non-custodial parent pays basic child support to the custodial parent. However, this gets pretty tricky when parents have 50/50 custody in New York state. In that case, the parent who earns a higher income pays child support, regardless of whether the parents have equal parenting time.
This is really important to keep in mind, especially if paying both child support and shared custody expenses will cause considerable financial hardship. If this is the case, it can be very advantageous to try and negotiate better terms either directly with the other party or through your lawyers.
Do you want joint physical custody and need help negotiating? Call us today!