The relationship between parenting time and child support

June 30, 2020

People often don’t contemplate their legal rights and responsibilities as a parent when they first have a child. Especially if a child is the product of a marriage, the couple may not bother to learn about their specific rights and responsibilities under Texas state law. They will instead just assume they will fulfill their responsibilities without learning about them.

However, couples who divorce or who have children outside of marriage and end their relationship may soon have to learn about their legal responsibilities and what rights they have as a parent. One of your responsibilities is to provide support to your child, which can involve both physical caretaking and financial support.

Child support helps offset expenses incurred by the parent caring for the kids

Raising children isn’t cheap. They need new clothes and shoes as they grow, supplies for school and food to feed their ever-growing bodies. A parent ordered to provide child support will contribute financially to help facilitate the custodial parent meeting the needs of the children. Although the state does not limit what someone can spend child support, it will usually help defray costs associated with housing, clothing and feeding children

When you have more parenting time, you naturally assume more of the costs of care

If you and your ex-spouse have roughly equal income and roughly equal parenting time, you may not have to pay child support at all, since you would both have roughly the same amount of resources and support during your parenting time. If your incomes or parenting time aren’t equal, one of you may still have to pay support to the other.

Understanding the ins and outs of parenting time and child support can be difficult. Make sure that you have the appropriate assistance as you move forward with this process.