Why Child Support?

Why child support if both parents are 

working and sharing custody 50/50? 

By: Christian Misner, Attorney at Law

I am commonly asked why a court would order child support when each parent is working and each spending the same amount of time with the child.

To understand the answer, one first needs to understand two things about child support.  

#1. It is not the child's fault that their parents got divorced and they should not suffer the fallout and

#2. Visitation is not dependent upon payment of child support.

If the child's parents were still together, they would each be bringing home the full amount of their income and sharing it jointly with their child.

To simulate that, when parents split up, child support provides the benefits of that shared joint income.

When one parent makes more money than the other (which is almost always the case), that parent makes a child support payment that equalizes the loss of that extra amount when the child is with the parent who makes less money.

The amount of visitation time is irrelevant*.   You could even have a situation where a parent paying support gets more time with the child.  The point is, when the child is with the parent who makes less money, even if the visitation is 50/50, the child should have access to the shared joint income they would have if their parents had not divorced.

Child support is one of the most hotly contested issues in a divorce.  But if the parent paying it can understand that its purpose is to provide the child with the same lifestyle they would enjoy if their parents were still together, it makes a lot of sense.

*The amount of overnight visitation, in addition to other expenses such as health insurance and child care, can affect the amount of child support.