What Is Child Support For? (plus the importance of the parenting plan)
Things I Wish I'd Known Before Going Through a Divorce #3
We’ve all heard about child support, whether we’ve gone through a divorce or not. But rarely do you really think about what child support entails. Often you think of a parent who doesn’t have custody paying the other parent who is now caring full time for their children. But child support is a part of many divorce cases even if parents share custody 50/50. This is due to disparate incomes. In other words, even if both parents work, unless their incomes are almost equal, child support will likely come into play.
Just because someone pays child support doesn’t mean they don’t have to pay for anything else. Child support, at least in California, covers the basic needs of the children. Namely, lodging, food, clothing, diapers, utilities. All the things that happen in your household. All other expenses can be split (and usually in proportion to your incomes). But the only costs that are court-mandated to be split (at least in California) are out of pocket medical and child care expenses.
It looks like in Texas, child support is meant to cover extracurriculars, school fees, etc. In Missouri, it doesn’t. Every state has different laws. Which is kind of infuriating and yet also the inherent DNA of how our country is structured.
Now, you may be thinking that if your child support number is high enough, you shouldn’t ask to split the other expenses. However, child support is yes, for necessities, but it is also to equalize the children’s experience in their two households. For example, the courts don’t want one household able to fly on a private jet and the other household not even able to take vacations. It isn’t good for the kids. Think about Kevin Costner’s divorce.