How Are Children’s Expenses Paid After Divorce?
Jennifer Davison – Partner Family Law
Washington, DC Divorce Lawyer, Jennifer Davison explains how child support and children’s expenses are paid after divorce.
Child support is a payment from one parent to the other parent to help pay for kids’ day to day needs and sometimes other needs as well. There are many things that parents don’t agree on, but what they do agree on is that they love their kids, that kids are expensive, and that they want to protect their children from unnecessary conflict. The concerns of the parent who is not the wage earner are typically, how are the children’s expenses going to be paid and making sure there are not totally disparate standards of living between households.
There are different ways to determine child support. The first resource that we look at is the Child Support Guideline. This considers the income of the parents, the time-sharing arrangement (or custody arrangement), and the number of children. In many cases, we also look at the needs of the children within the context of the experience as a family together, and also how expenses were paid during the marriage, and really what the expenses are–to drill down on that as best as possible. And to think thoughtfully about what the expenses are going to be going forward so that when you go into any negotiation, discussion, or litigation, you know what the needs are and how to best negotiate or ask for them.
My goal is for clients to first become educated and two to be really comfortable, or as comfortable as possible under the circumstances as to how they are going to pay for their expenses or their children’s expenses going forward and to have some confidence they are going to be okay.