Child Support

Major factors in calculating child support include the number of overnights, health insurance costs, relative income of the parents, and some education-related expenses.

Factors important for calculating child support are often not as clear as we would like. For example, a parent’s income may be hard to determine based on their status as a stay-at-home parent, or because they receive bonuses, or overtime, or are independent contractors instead of W-2 employees.

In a divorce or custody case, a judge will take several factors into consideration when making a final decision on child support. A major aspect of this decision is based on how many overnights the child has with each parent. Generally speaking, the more overnights the noncustodial parent has with the child, the less they will owe in child support.

Some, in this situation, may try to request more overnights with their child in order to lessen the financial blow of the mandated child support. For this reason, judges will take a deeper dive into the family’s life in order to ensure a realistic perspective, on which to base their final decision.