What expenses does child support cover?

It can be a very exciting time when people have children in California. While it can be a very joyful time, having a child comes with a lot of responsibility as well. People need to provide love and care for their children and make sure that their needs are met. Meeting those needs requires paying for many things in their lives. This is true for parents who are married and those who are divorced. Even though parents may not be together, it does not mean that only the parent with primary custody needs to provide for the children.

To ensure this happens many parents will be ordered to pay the other one child support. These payments are designed to ensure that each parent is contributing to the expenses without having to split every expense as it is incurred by each parent. The child support payments need to be used to pay for the big reoccurring expenses of food, clothing and a home. They also pay for health insurance.

In addition to these costs which are included in the basic child support payment each month, child support orders can also include monetary contributions for additional expenses as well. These extra expenses include child care, medical expenses not covered by the children’s health insurance, extracurricular activities that the children are involved in, if there are excessive travel expenses required to ensure parenting time occurs and other expenses. These type of expenses are usually paid for as they are incurred though and not included in the monthly child support obligation paid each month.

There are many parents who are no longer with the other parent of their children. Each parent needs to still provide for the children though and to ensure that happens one parent may be required to pay child support to the other. The amount of child support is based on the guidelines that take into account each parent’s income and the amount of time each parent cares for the children. These can be complicated matters though and experienced attorneys could be a useful resource.