Child support helps balance out financial discrepancies between parents. In scenarios where one parent has the children more and therefore commits more capital to their upbringing, child support can help even out the contributions of the parents. When there is a vast discrepancy in household income, child support can help ensure that children have a similar standard of living at both homes.
Those paying child support are often anxious about the idea of the recipient misusing those funds. That’s why it’s important to know what types of expenses parents can use child support to cover.
Parents can’t micromanage child support
Contrary to what people might expect, the paying parent has no control over how the recipient parent uses the child support. They do not generally have the right to demand details about the household budget and spending habits of the recipient parent.
As long as they meet the basic needs of the children, the nuances of how they spend their child support are inconsequential. The amount of child support ordered is often far less than the amount spent on the children every month.
In some cases, parents may have already paid household and child-related expenses. They then use child support for other expenses, such as the household credit card bill.
Parents paying child support typically cannot refuse to continue paying by asserting that the other parent spends the money inappropriately. However, reviewing support and parenting arrangements may be necessary in scenarios where there are indicators that one parent doesn’t meet the children’s needs.
Disputes about how one parent used child support can lead to relationship-damaging conflict and resentment. Learning more about the laws that govern child support and shared custody can help people raise children cooperatively with less conflict.
