3 Unique Child Support Situations

When people reach agreements in divorce, they are able to customize certain parts of their case.  One of the areas we most commonly tailor for clients is parenting time or their possession schedule.  When that happens and the agreed possession schedule differs from Standard Possession, you may wonder what happens to child support. And, the answer to that questions is that there are options for child support also.

One of the parts that is almost always universal is that the parents talk about what is going on with their kids now, what the children are involved in, scheduling and what they need and then try to decide on the best fit for their circumstances. I’ll talk about a few examples here.

Alternating Week Schedule

When parents agree to an alternating week schedule I’ve seen them agree that neither parent will pay standard child support. In this type of schedule, they could agree to an offset child support which considers the income for each parent. That means that each parents standard child support obligation is calculated and then it is offset from the other parent’s child support amount.  If, for example, Parent A standard child support amount would be $900 each month. Parent B’s standard child support amount would calculate to be $1500 each month. The child support amounts compared and then offset and the remaining amount is the amount that would be paid. So, parent B would pay $600.

Another option with the alternating week schedule is that neither parent pays the usual amount of child support as it would be figured out in the Texas Family Code.  Instead, the parents decide how to share costs for their kids, for example fees and costs for sports, band and other extracurricular activities and needs that their kids have now and might have in the future.  So, for example, the parents of kids in elementary and middle school could agree that they will each pay 50% of the extracurricular sports, for one sport each semester.  Parents of high school age kids may decide that they are going to split the costs of the high school activity or sport based on when the fees and costs are due.  For example, an activity that extends all year might lend itself to one parent pays in the Fall and one parent pays in the Spring.

Flexible Days

Often, people will just tweak the Standard Possession schedule slightly.  So, instead of the Thursday night time during the school year, they will make it Tuesday night or make it shorter, not an overnight visit.  When this happens there is not usually a change in child support because the difference is so minimal.

These are just examples of many of the different options we are able to help our clients with in divorce.  The options for your case will be specific to your family.  Make an appointment to talk with an experienced family lawyer today – 940-497-5454

Jill O’Connell