In my last post, I wrote that the Child Support Guidelines contain specific provisions that deal with how support is to be calculated in situations involving a “shared custody” arrangement between parents.
Another specific section of those Guidelines addresses support in cases of “split custody” – those situations where each parent has sole custody of one or more children. (For example, the mother may have custody of the daughter, and the father may have custody of the son. Or vice versa).
The Guidelines provide for a simple set-off: the child support is the is the difference between the amount that each parent would otherwise pay if a child support order were sought against each of them. The set-off applies to the amount that would be owed to each parent by the other. Here are the steps:
This approach incorporates the idea that both parents contribute to the support of the child in his or her custody (with adjustments made for the conditions, means, needs and other circumstances of the parent and child). The actual contribution of each parent is compared to the Guidelines Table amount, which is calculated as if each of them were non-custodial parents who are obliged to pay custody on their own.
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