If I were to ask you, “What is child support? “, what would you say? What do you think we should do?
Something along the lines of, “Is it when one parent pays money to the other parent for the kids after the parents have divorced?”
Would you respond with “Um… their costs” if I followed up by asking “What is child support spent for?
There is a lot of misunderstanding around the topic of child support, despite the fact that it is involved in over sixty percent of all divorces in the UK here AM Mediators Birmingham discuss your options.
If you and your spouse are divorcing and you have children, one of the most important issues that has to be resolved is child support. This decision will have repercussions not just in the short term, but also for their life over the course of many years to come.
In my experience, if a person has a basic understanding of the issues that apply to their divorce before beginning the process of divorcing, it may help them work more effectively with their spouse (and the divorce expert that they have selected) to address those difficulties.
Therefore, the purpose of this post is to educate you on the principles of child support, as well as provide you with some choices for negotiating it and provide you with information regarding what you can do to protect your children from becoming economic victims as a result of your divorce.
What exactly is child support, though?
To put it another way, child support is a form of monetary assistance for the children of separated or divorced parents that is intended to cover the costs incurred by the children.
Contrary to alimony, which is a form of financial assistance that is given by one former spouse to the other for the purpose of covering the recipient adult’s living expenses.
How does the process of paying child support work? What Purpose Does Financial Support for Children Serve? And What Does It Cover in Terms of Children?
The definition of “what’s in and what’s out of child support” varies depending on the state in which you now reside. But in my experience, there are four different sorts of costs that parents face when it comes to raising children:
- Everyday Expenses, Such as Housing, Food, Utilities, and Other Things Like That
- Expenses That Are Considered Unusual or Unusual in Nature, Such as Summer Camp, Child Care, Extracurricular Activities, Etc.
- Medical Expenses, which may include health insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and any other out-of-pocket medical expenditures.
- Expenses Relating to Post-Secondary Education – This includes but is not limited to tuition, room and board, books, transportation to and from school, and any other expenditures related with preparing for or enrolling in college or other forms of post-secondary education such as trade schools.
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It is possible for the manner in which you negotiate and reach an agreement on each category of expenditure, as well as the amount of time over which you are required to make payments, to differ from state to state and from divorcing couple to divorcing couple.
Who is Responsible to Pay Child Support?
There is a widespread misunderstanding that child support is only paid by one of the parents.
It can appear as though there is only one paying parent if one of the parents sends a check on behalf of the family.
However, that payment is only intended to cover a percentage of the regular expenditures incurred by the child or children. It is also expected that the parent who is receiving the assistance would contribute to some of those costs.
In most cases, separate negotiations take place for each of the three main categories of costs, which are then also split between the parties. Therefore, the fact of the matter is that child support is paid by both parents!
When does the need to pay child support end?
The final payment of child support varies from one state to the next and from spouse to couple (based on something negotiated.)
On the other hand, in general:
- The termination of the payment of regular costs for a minor kid normally occurs following the child’s graduation from high school.
- The termination of the payment of special expenditures is typically considered to occur with emancipation.
- In most cases, parents are no longer responsible for paying for their children’s medical bills after they are old enough to obtain their own health insurance or when they reach the age of 26.
- The funding of college expenditures often comes to an end once a student has attended the same school for a total of four years in a row.
When parents’ divorce, how do decisions about child support get made?
Child support, along with any other issues linked to the divorce, can be settled in one of two ways: either you and your husband can negotiate a settlement, or a family law court will make the decision for you.
When it comes to assessing child support, the circumstances of each relationship and the criteria that go into the calculation are different. When a child support order is issued by the court, however, it is impossible to predict how the judge will make their decision.
You run the risk of arriving at a conclusion that you do not consider to be fair or that does not adequately provide for the financial requirements of your children.
When it comes to settling out of court, the good news is that you have a lot of leeway and may have a lot of control over the situation.
When a couple decides to divorce, it is typical (and acceptable) for them to have differing points of view on issues like as child custody, alimony, the division of property, and/or child support. However, simply because you have differences of opinion does not mean that you have to take your dispute before a court in order to have it addressed.
There is no requirement that every divorce be heard in family court.
In point of fact, settling disagreements outside of court may save you a significant amount of both money and time.
Additionally, it can assist you in avoiding or at least mitigating a significant portion of the emotionally damaging effects that a contentious divorce proceeding may have on you and your children.