Agreeing On Child Support Numbers

When you are going through a divorce, there?s nothing more central to your situation than your child or children. If one parent makes more than the other or one parent will be caring for the children more often than the other, there might be a need for someone to pay child support.

Working through a mediator brings huge advantages to your circumstances. You don’t have to spend nearly as much as you would with two lawyers, going into court, and both parties can get at least part of what they want as they compromise to reach an agreement. While separating certain assets might be simple enough, agreeing on child custody and then child support can be contentious. Here are a few tips on how child support is calculated in the courts to help you reach a fair agreement in an amicable manner.

Child Needs And Income

In California, child support is calculated using a state formula that includes both parents? incomes and percentage of time they are caring for the children. ?In mediation, Parties may follow the calculated guideline, or the two parties may agree on something different that they feel is fair for both of them. To consider what is fair, think about the needs of the child or children involved. Those needs include day to day items like food, clothing, and the house in which they live, but it also includes things like health insurance, their education, and any special needs they have.

Child support decisions should always take into account both parents incomes and how parenting is shared. The child should be able to have the same standard of living at each home, even though the incomes are split up between different households now. If parents are splitting custody, and have similar incomes, there may not be much need for child support, but when incomes are quite different or one parent takes sole or majority custody, child support is likely to be required.

Remember The Second Household Needs

If you are the parent who will be taking the child for the majority of the time, you want your share of child support for your kids. However, you also need to keep in mind that your former spouse will have to set up a household or his or her own and there are expenses that come with that as well. You need to leave them enough money to live on so they have somewhere for your child to visit them and so they can carry on with their own life.

Consider Percentages

When shared custody agreements are in effect, consider how much each parent makes and what percentage of time the child will be with one parent over the other. If one parent makes a lot more but will have the child a lot less, they own the other parent child support. You can also agree to such things as each parent will pay half of the special expenses (like braces, college tuition, and other such items).

Work Out Child Support In Mediation

Child support is just one of the important topics you will cover in divorce mediation. If you want to compromise and work amicably, mediation is the way to go.