During a divorce or separation where children are involved, parents have to work with the court to determine a custody schedule and child support payment plan. The amount of custodial time each parent is awarded will affect the amount of child support the paying parent is required to pay. Work with an Oakland County child custody lawyer for assistance during your child custody dispute.

What is Custodial Time?

Parents can be awarded physical custody, legal custody, or both. Physical custody means where the child resides, so parents with 50% legal custody will spend an equal amount of time with the child. Legal custody means the ability to make final decisions regarding the child’s religious upbringing, education, health and medical care, extracurriculars, and more.

Custodial time refers only to the amount of time that each parent has physical custody of the child. Parents may split time equally but in general, one parent will become the primary or custodial parent who lives with the child for most of the year.

How is Child Support Calculated?

Child support payments should be high enough to benefit the receiving parent and financially contribute to certain costs of the child but not so high that it places an undue hardship on the paying parent.

Generally, both parents’ income is considered as well as their earning capacity and ability to pay. In New York, parents who share one child are expected to use 17% of their combined net incomes for the child’s expenses. Courts expect parents with two children to use 25%, three children to use 29%, and so on. Once the courts have added up both incomes and determined how much money should be designated for the children, they will determine how much each parent should be responsible for based on custodial time, income, other financial responsibilities, etc.

Does the Amount of Time I Spend With My Child Impact My Child Support Payments?

Child support payments are designed for the noncustodial parent to financially contribute to the raising of their child. The more time that a parent has custody of the child, the more money they will spend on them. Food, clothes, rent, water, electricity, education, extracurricular activities, and more can all add up. A parent with primary custody will have to pay for these things more frequently than the noncustodial parent, so child support payments help balance the scales.

Based on this logic, the more equal the custody plan, the less money the noncustodial parent will have to pay. The more days or weeks you have custody of your child, the less you will be obligated to pay in child support. However, even with a 50/50 split, the higher-earning parent will still be required to pay some amount. Speak to an experienced family lawyer for more information.