Child Support and Parenting Time (Duluth Budgeteer Business Spotlight)

Child Support and Parenting Time (Duluth Budgeteer Business Spotlight)

Child Support is court ordered payments to financially support a child. Many are surprised to discover that who “gets custody” (generally defined as day-to-day care and control) is not the single factor in determining the amount of child support. Rather, there are a variety of factors considered.

Weighing heavily are two factors: combined income of the parents and parenting time with the child.

I want to focus now on parenting time, as it’s a factor in which many parents out there are able to change. Yet, they have not done so because they were not aware they had the ability to make a change.

Parenting time is the time each parent spends with the child. Generally, this parenting time is determined by the number of nights a child spends with a parent. A non-custodial parent will get a discount on their child support in recognition for a greater amount of parenting time. A parent spending 10-45% of the time with the child gets a 12% reduction; whereas a parent spending less than 10% gets no reduction.

Unfortunately, for many non-custodial parents already spending considerable time with their child(ren), they get no reduction in their child support. The reason is that a court will not considering the parenting time unless a parenting time order has been established by the Court. This fact makes it important that non-custodial parents seek a court established parenting time order.

There’s another reason why getting parenting time is important. Unless a parenting order is set, the non-custodial parent’s time with their child(ren) can often be determined at the whim of the custodial parent. It’s a heartbreaking experience for both a parent and child(ren) when plans for time together are suddenly ended by a custodial parent.

Dahlberg Duluth law office can help. Read about child support, parenting time, custody

Dahlberg Law Office can help you if you are experiencing difficulties with child support or parenting time.

Call our office today to review or begin your estate planning. Contact Us

Republished with permission from the Duluth Budgeteer, January 17, 2016.

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