How Do You Figure Out Child Support With 50/50 Schedules?
The journey into Co-Parenting- Is no child support fair?
Ok, so you guys have seen some of my articles… I try to be fair, right?
Don’t get me wrong here… I do support equal parenting time in many situations. Dads can be just as good of a parent as Moms. BUT… today I am getting on my soapbox and fussing..
Just because you have equal parenting time does not always mean no child support!
If the Parent’s incomes are roughly similar, then no child support is normally ordered. You can find ways to make sure that the expenses of the child are paid. Examples include:
Each Parent has clothing for the child at their home.
Each Parent provides lunches for the child while in their care or puts money in the child’s lunch account for the week.
If the income is not equal, then child support should be paid or some other financial incentive should be offered such as a clothing allowance, claiming the child all years as a dependent, etc.
What about out of pocket costs?
The out of pocket costs should be split according to income. It is unfair to ask someone who makes less to pay an equal share of out of pocket costs. One solution to this might be that if the child is super active in sports, the Parent with the higher income pays for the extra-curricular costs 100% and the others are split equally. You should not have one parent paying 100% of medical out of pocket unless they have the ability to use a tax free health savings plan that allows for contributions from their wages.
I am making a plea to those doing a 50/50 schedule — be fair on child support. Don’t ruin the 50/50 parenting trend by being greedy!
